California Senator Kamala Harris criticized U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday after he called California to be like the Confederate states in the Civil War.
“As far as I’m concerned, Jeff Sessions should be advised, and I’ll advise him right now, that it’s a bad idea, for him, to start talking about anything to do with the history of slavery or reconstruction or the Civil War in the United States,” Harris said to MSNBC host Chris Hayes. “His credibility is pretty much shot on those issues,” she added.
The Hill reported that Sessions on Wednesday announced a lawsuit against California over its immigration policies during a speech to the California Peace Officers’ Association in Sacramento. The attorney general later compared California to the Confederate states that seceded during the Civil War.
“I understand that we have a wide variety of political opinions out there on immigration. But the law is in the books and its purposes are clear and just,” Sessions said.
“There is no nullification. There is no secession. Federal law is the supreme law of the land. I would invite any doubters to go to Gettysburg, to the tombstones of John C. Calhoun and Abraham Lincoln. This matter has been settled,” he said.
The Department of Justice has already filed a lawsuit against California in an attempt to block the three so-called sanctuary laws that the state’s legislature passed last year which counteract Trump’s immigration enforcement measures.
According to The Hill, sanctuary cities encourage local authorities not to implement federal immigration law. Harris called the Justice Department’s suit hypocritical, saying Trump’s administration is playing politics.
“It’s hypocrisy at its height. Again, I think there’s a distraction in that they’re trying to suggest that this is about the constitution when in fact, what they’re doing is playing politics,” she said. “They’re playing politics and they’re playing politics with California.”
California Governor Jerry Brown in a tweet criticized the lawsuit, saying it’s a political stunt.
“At a time of unprecedented political turmoil, Jeff Sessions has come to California to further divide and polarize America. Jeff, these political stunts may be the norm in Washington, but they don’t work here. SAD!!!,” Brown tweeted.
Be the first to comment