Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, who last year tipped off illegal immigrants of imminent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, introduced Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) at her presidential launch event on Sunday and praised her for having “those Oakland progressive values.”
“She is our kind of leader,” Schaaf said. “She has got those Oakland progressive values and a vision of inclusion that includes everybody, no matter your identity, no matter your background.”
Harris revealed that her mother and Schaaf’s mother were friends and said she is “so proud to be a daughter of Oakland.”
“As children in the East Bay, we were raised by a community with a deep belief in the promise of our country, a deeper understanding of the parts of the promise that still remain unfulfilled,” Harris said. “We were raised in a community where we were taught to see a world beyond ourselves… to be conscious and compassionate about the struggle of all people. We were raised to believe public service is a noble cause and the fight for justice is everyone’s responsibility.”
When Schaaf made national headlines after warning illegal immigrants of the ICE raids, Harris said then that she supported Schaaf’s decision “100 percent” and later even endorsed Schaaf’s re-election bid.
At her campaign kickoff event, Harris blasted President Donald Trump’s border wall as a “medieval vanity project” and said the wall will do nothing to stop “persistent and ruthless” transnational gangs that “traffic guns and human beings.”
Harris also blasted the Trump administration for separating illegal immigrant children from their parents at the border.”
“When we have children in cages crying for their mothers and fathers, don’t you dare call that border security,” Harris said. “That is a human rights issue. That is not our America.”