While serving as the junior senator from California, Democrat presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris called for donations to groups that seek to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
According to Harris' social media posts, she encouraged the public to donate in 2018 and 2019 to at least two fundraisers organized by activist groups that have sought to defund the two federal immigration agencies.
The fundraising campaigns are still active on Democrat fundraising platform ActBlue.
"Many of you have asked how you can help the families being impacted by our government's human rights abuses along the border," Harris posted on Twitter in June 2018. "Here's what you can do right now: make a donation to groups providing support to meet the most urgent needs of these families."
She included a link to an ActBlue fundraiser benefiting "the kids and families separated by ICE."
One of the groups behind the fundraiser, the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, posted an anti-law enforcement poem on X on Valentine's Day in 2023, writing "Roses are red. Violets are blue. You and me could Defund DHS, ICE, and CBP too!"
According to the Washington Examiner, another one of the beneficiaries from the fundraiser, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, is part of a coalition that is pushing to defund local sheriffs.
"Sheriffs assist ICE, manage jails & patrol our communities," the group reportedly wrote on Twitter in 2020. "As we work towards safer[,] more just communities, it is essential we defund sheriffs. Learn how to take on your local sheriff's office in the #DefundSheriffsToolkit."
The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services has since apparently deleted the post.
Other recipients of money raised by the anti-ICE fundraiser include the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, La Union del Pueblo Entero, United We Dream Action, and the American Civil Liberties Union.
The second fundraiser Harris promoted also benefited several different immigration groups including the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, the Texas Civil Rights Project, and the UndocuBlack Network.
ActBlue described that fundraiser as "providing direct support to immigrants on the border."
UndocuBlack Network Executive Director Patrice Lawrence told the Examiner that it "still supports defunding ICE and CBP."
"We think it is critical to protect immigrants here and recently arrived and we still today see bad practices from these agencies that don't show care or compassion for us," Lawrence said.
Now the Democratic Party's presidential nominee, Harris' support for groups that promote illegal immigration could cause problems for her on the campaign trail as she seeks to quickly build a coalition to win the White House in November.
In 2021, President Joe Biden appointed Harris to the position of "border czar" to address the "root causes" of migration at the southern border, which has surged to historic levels during the Biden-Harris administration. In recent days, the Harris campaign has sought to remake the vice president's "border czar" title given her inaction on the southern border crisis.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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