'The language of Hitler': Kamala Harris denounces Donald Trump's comments attacking immigrants

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Vice President Kamala Harris criticized former President Donald Trump over his most recent comments attacking immigrants, saying Tuesday his words have been "rightly" compared to dictators such as Adolf Hitler.

Trump told an audience at a New Hampshire campaign rally last week that immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country."

Harris, who's parents are both immigrants to the United States, was asked about the comments in an interview Tuesday. She told MSNBC "it is language that is meant to divide us. It is language that I think people have rightly found similar to the language of Hitler."

"We've seen this before, we know where this could go. So stand up and fight for what is right," the vice president said when asked what her mother, who died in 2009, might have thought about Trump's words.

Members of Trump's own party have criticized the remarks, including fellow GOP presidential candidate and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who called Trump "disgusting." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pushed back on Trump by pointing out that his wife, Elaine Chao, was a member of the former president's cabinet.

"It strikes me it didn’t bother him when he appointed Elaine Chao secretary of transportation," McConnell told reporters Tuesday. Chao was born in Taiwan and moved to the U.S. as a child.

Vice President Kamala Harris listens as President Joe Biden speaks during the State of the Union address from the House chamber of the United States Capitol in Washington on Feb. 7, 2023.
Vice President Kamala Harris listens as President Joe Biden speaks during the State of the Union address from the House chamber of the United States Capitol in Washington on Feb. 7, 2023.

Harris' criticism comes after President Joe Biden last month also charged Trump with imitating Nazi language.

"Trump has said if he returns to office, he’s going to go after all those who oppose him and wipe out what he called the 'vermin' in America. A specific phrase with a specific meaning," Biden said at a campaign fundraiser in San Francisco.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Harris slams Trump's anti-immigration comments as 'language of Hitler'