Kamala Harris Uses Children’s Citizenship Ceremony to Blast Trump Policies

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) used her speech at a citizenship ceremony for 41 children aboard the U.S.S. Iowa in San Pedro to blast President Donald Trump’s policies on Monday.

Though she did not mention the president by name, Harris’s speech took aim at Trump’s “travel ban” and urged the newly-naturalized Americans — who became citizens automatically when their parents did so — to become politically involved to oppose the Trump administration.

In remarks prepared for delivery, Harris said:

You chose [sic] to become United States citizens. Now, I’m asking you to choose to embrace the responsibilities of citizenship.

Get involved. Attend town halls or city council meeting. Run for office yourselves. Vote.

…

Tomorrow, people will celebrate American independence with food and fireworks. But for me, there’s no greater celebration of what this country is than the outpouring of love and support we saw just a few months ago when new arrivals to this country were under assault.

Thousands of people wrote and called Congress.

Americans all over the country marched.

They rallied at airports, where they offered legal advice, handed out food, and waved signs.

Like the young woman at LAX holding the U.S. flag with the poem from the Statue of Liberty written on it: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

The Los Angeles Times described Harris’s speech as part of a day of events staged “to rally supporters against President Trump and his Republican allies in Congress,” in which she used “subtlety and a sledgehammer.”

At a health care rally later in the day, according to the Times, Harris used racial terms to mock Republicans who were negotiating on a plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, calling them “this group that looks exactly like each other and not like most of us here.”

The citizenship event marked the first time that the U.S.S. Iowa had been used for a naturalization ceremony, according to local CBS News affiliate KCAL-9.

Harris is frequently mentioned as a possible presidential candidate for the Democrats in 2020.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.