Kamala Harris officially launches Presidential election campaign

Democratic Senator from California Kamala Harris on Sunday officially launched her campaign for the 2020 Presidential Elections.

Speaking at the launch event in Oakland, California, Harris said, "People in power are trying to convince us that the villain in our American story is each other".

She further attacked President Donald Trump over his proposed wall along the southern border with Mexico, terming it a "medieval vanity project".

During Harris' address, a heckler in the crowd expressed his opposition to Harris' anti-wall stance and shouted, "You murdered Corporal Singh," in reference to the murder of Newman Police Department's Ronal Singh by an undocumented immigrant from Mexico.

According to media reports, a suspected drunk driver shot Singh in December last year after the latter pulled him over. The Mexico native had reportedly crossed the border in Arizona several years ago and worked a number of jobs. He was also suspected to have had gang affiliations.

While Harris' crowd drowned out the heckler with chants of "Kamala!" Singh's death has been a talking point for Trump to advocate for his wall.

After Singh's murder, Trump tweeted, "There is right now a full scale manhunt going on in California for an illegal immigrant accused of shooting and killing a police officer during a traffic stop. Time to get tough on Border Security. Build the Wall!"

The President's aspirations for the construction of the wall took a major hit on Friday when he signed the bill to fund federal agencies until February 15, ending the 35-day government shutdown without securing the border-wall funding.

Trump demanded the House of Representatives, controlled by the Democrats, to sanction USD 5.7 billion for the wall in exchange for his signature on a bill funding federal agencies. His refusal to sign the bill unless the House sanctioned the funds resulted in the 35-day long government shutdown, the longest in history.

However, Trump dismissed his decision as a concession, assuring his supporters that the move was only temporary and the deadlock would resume if Democrats and Republicans do not reach an agreement by February.

He also said that border security will be a "big 2020 issue".

On January 21, Harris announced that she will be contesting in the US presidential elections in 2020. The Democrat Senator is the first African-American woman to announce a run for the White House in 2020.

However, Harris is not the first Democrat to announce the candidacy. Earlier, representative Tulsi Gabbard had announced that she will be in the race for the Oval Office.

-ANI