Kamala Harris’ New Comms. Director Apologizes For Tweets on Immigration: I’ve ‘Missed the Mark’
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Jamal Simmons, Vice President Kamala Harris’ new communications director, issued an apology on Friday after controversial tweets resurfaced in which he asked why federal immigration authorities were not arresting undocumented workers who were being interviewed on MSNBC.
In the 2010 tweet, Simmons wrote, “Just saw 2 undocumented folks talking on MSNBC. One Law student the other a protester. Can someone explain why ICE is not picking them up?”
He later doubled down saying, “I’ll try this again: Just saw 2 undocumented folks talking on MSNBC and have a serious legal question. Why wouldn’t ICE pick them up?”
After the tweets started circulating online and were picked up, along with other unflattering tweets, by Fox News, Simmons released a statement to Politico’s Alex Thompson:
“As a pundit for much of my career I have tweeted a lot and spoken out on public issues. Sometimes I have been sarcastic, unclear, or just plainly missed the mark. I sincerely apologize for offending those who care as much as I do about making America the best, multi-ethnic, diverse democracy it can be. I know the role I am taking on is to represent the Biden-Harris administration, and I will do so with humility, sincerity and respect.”
In response to these old tweets, Simmons says in a statement:
“Sometimes I have been sarcastic, unclear, or just plainly missed the mark. I sincerely apologize for offending those who care as much as I do about making America the best, multi-ethnic, diverse democracy it can be” pic.twitter.com/ndpPpAy1xS— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) January 7, 2022
Fox News also reported on Simmons’ comments ridiculing then-candidate Joe Biden. In 2019, Simmons hosted a show for The Hill called Why You Should Care, and hosted a segment titled “Dazed & Confused,” which made light of Biden’s propensity for what Fox called “conflated” and long-winded storytelling.
