Kamala Harris went on a three-day trip to Eastern Europe where she met Poland’s President Andrzej Duda. When asked if the U.S. will set aside space for Ukrainian refugees to immigrate to America, Harris laughs at the idea.
Both Harris and Polish President Andrzej Duda were asked about the U.S. accepting Ukrainian refugees, Harris then stared at Duda like she expected him to respond first, then cackled through her comment.
Harris giggled awkwardly before Duda began answering the serious question. “A friend in need is a friend indeed,” Harris said.
She answered it with a smile before a more somber Duda said he had asked the U.S. vice president to help speed up the process for Ukrainian refugees with family in the U.S. to be able to head to America.
.@VP Harris awkwardly starts laughing when asked about the Ukrainian refugee crisis pic.twitter.com/SIHhiLbK6X
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) March 10, 2022
Duda also said, “We are looking for international support because indeed the vast majority of Ukrainian refugees are coming to our country.”
Harris didn’t prolong the idea of the US committing to taking a number of Ukrainians fleeing the war. Instead, she said that the US will allow Ukrainians whose visas expiring soon to stay in the US “We will not send them back to what is a war zone,” Harris said.
She continued:
“As we have said many times through our work collectively in the UN through NATO, we will support Poland in terms of the burden it is facing and our collective responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of these refugees.”
The White House also said in a statement:
“During her trip to Warsaw, Poland, today, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced nearly $53 million in new humanitarian assistance from the United States government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), to support innocent civilians affected by Russia’s unjustified invasion of Ukraine. This additional assistance includes support to the UN World Food Program (WFP) to provide lifesaving emergency food assistance to meet immediate needs of hundreds of thousands affected by the invasion, including people who are displaced from their homes and who are crossing the border out of Ukraine. In addition, it will support WFP’s logistics operations to move assistance into Ukraine, including to people in Kyiv.”
“The United States is the largest provider of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and has provided $159 million in overall humanitarian assistance to Ukraine since October 2020, including nearly $107 million in the past two weeks in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This includes food, safe drinking water, shelter, emergency health care, and winterization services to communities affected by ongoing fighting. To date, two million people have been forced to flee Ukraine due to the conflict, and an estimated one million are displaced inside Ukraine. At least 12 million people are in need of humanitarian aid across Ukraine. The United States continues to stand with the people of Ukraine and will continue to work to meet immediate needs and save lives,” the White House added.
After the video went into social media, Harris was criticized by several social media users who slammed her for laughing at a serious situation:
Benny Johnson of conservative group Turning Point USA posted a Twitter post saying “Only Kamala Harris would find it appropriate to laugh when talking about the topic of Ukrainian Refugees.”
Journalist Tom Elliott tweeted: “VP Harris awkwardly starts laughing when asked about the Ukrainian refugee crisis.”
Foreign policy analyst Nile Gardiner also took to Twitter and fumed: “Kamala Harris is an embarrassment to the United States on the world stage. This is appalling.”
Iuliia Mendel, the former Zelensky spokesperson also said in a Twitter post “It would be a tragedy if this woman won the presidency.”
Sources: Daily Wire, New York Post, Daily Mail, Express