Kamala Harris was a prosecutor for far longer than she’s been a politician.
Harris’s lengthy career in law started in 1990 when she became a deputy district attorney specialising in prosecuting child sexual assault offenders.
It ran until 2017 when she was overseeing the largest state justice department in the country as attorney general of California.
She says what drove her – and what still drives her – is “a very strong sense of responsibility to protect those who are vulnerable”.
But where did that sense of responsibility come from?
According to her, the catalyst was a devastating situation with her best friend at high school.
Ms Harris, who was raised in Berkeley in California, moved to Montreal in Canada for high school with her mother Shyamala Gopalan and sister Maya after Ms Gopalan, a breast cancer scientist, got a research job there.
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Image: Harris as a child with her mother and younger sister Maya. Pic: @KamalaHarris
It was at West Mount High School where she met fellow student Wanda Kagan, who was also new.
The pair quickly became best friends. But as they grew closer, Ms Harris could sense something was off.
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She first spoke about the incident in a video uploaded to her social media in 2020, with permission from Ms Kagan.
“I suspected something, because she would come to school and just be sad,” Ms Harris said in a video.
“And there were times when she just didn’t seem to want to go home.
“And I remember asking her: ‘Is everything ok?’ I just sensed it.”
Her best friend then told her she was being sexually and physically abused by her stepfather.
“And so I said to her as soon as she told me: ‘Well, you have to come stay with us,'” Ms Harris said.
“And a big part of the reason I wanted to be a prosecutor was to protect people like her.”
Ms Gopalan took the teenager in and helped her navigate the system to get the support she needed, Ms Kagan told Sky News in 2020.
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Expanding on her experiences last month, Ms Kagan told MSNBC Ms Harris “rescued” her and that she, along with her family, gave her “stability and structured me into believing I could continue my education”.
Ms Kagan, who still lives in Montreal and went on to have a career in healthcare, said it’s been an “emotional ride” to watch Ms Harris go on to “fight for the American people just like she fought for me over 40 years ago”.
“I want them [voters] to see that she’s exactly the kind of person that she’s always been from over 40 years ago in high school when she rescued me and it wasn’t just ‘say something’ – it was ‘do something’.
“She was going to make sure that something was done and to advocate for me even after I went to live with her and her mum and Maya.
“She has those protective instincts. She’s going to do something and fight for the people of America.”
The childhood friends drifted apart when Ms Harris left Montreal. But years later, when she was a prosecutor, Ms Harris called Ms Kagan and told her the impact of going through those experiences with her had led her to fight for children and women who had been sexually assaulted.
“That was a really special, touching moment when she shared the impact that I had on her life,” Ms Kagan said. “I know she’s always had an impact on my life and where I am today.”
How Harris got here
After finishing high school, she went on to graduate from Howard University and then the University of California Hastings College of Law, which she graduated from in 1989.
The following year she became deputy prosecutor in Alameda County in California, specialising in prosecuting child sexual assault cases, but also working on homicide and robbery cases.
She worked there until 1998 when she was made managing attorney of a criminal unit at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office before becoming head of the San Francisco City Attorney’s Division on Families and Children.
She became the first female district attorney for San Francisco in 2004. During her first three years in the position, the conviction rate in the city jumped from 52% to 67%.
Image: Harris poses for a photo after becoming San Francisco district attorney in 2004. Pic: PA
She served for six years before being elected as attorney general of California in 2010, where she oversaw the largest state justice department in the country.
In 2016, she won the US Senate race in California, beating fellow Democrat Loretta Sanchez who had 20 years’ experience in Congress.
Image: Harris speaks at a 2005 news conference as San Francisco district attorney. Pic: AP
Image: Harris spent New Year’s Eve at Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters in 2007. Pic: Deanne Fitzmaurice/San Francisco Chronicle via AP
Here, she built a reputation around her work as a prosecutor and gained national attention during her forensic questioning of Trump administration officials including Jeff Sessions, and then Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Democrats saw her as a promising candidate to overthrow Donald Trump’s presidency in the 2020 election, but Ms Harris ultimately dropped out of the race in December 2019, blaming a lack of finances.
It made her the first black female running mate for the two major parties, and only the third female running mate for the two major parties in American history.
It’s 5.30am, but the car park outside a laundrette in south central Los Angeles is already bustling.
A woman is setting up a stand selling tacos on the pavement and the sun is beginning to rise behind the palm trees.
A group of seven women and two men are gathered in a circle, most wearing khaki green t-shirts.
The leader, a man named Francisco “Chavo” Romero, begins by asking how everyone is feeling. “Angry,” a few of them respond. “Proud of the community for pushing back,” says another.
Ron, a high school history teacher, issues a rallying cry. “This is like Vietnam,” he says. “We’re taking losses, but in the end we’re going to win. It’s a war.”
Image: Francisco ‘Chavo’ Romero leads a volunteer group, attempting to warn people ahead of ICE raids
This is what the resistance against Donald Trump’s immigration policy looks like here. In the past month, immigration and customs enforcement agents – known as ICE – have intensified their raids on homes and workplaces across Los Angeles.
Since the beginning of June, nearly 2,800 undocumented immigrants have been arrested in the city, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The previous monthly high was just over 850 arrests in May this year.
Image: Police use tear gas against protesters, angry at a recent immigration raid at a farm in Camarillo, California. Pic: AP
Videos have circulated online of people being tackled to the ground in the car park of DIY shops, in car washes and outside homes. The videos have prompted outrage, protests and a fightback.
“Chavo” and Ron belong to a group of organised volunteers called Union del Barrio. Every morning, a group of them meet, mostly in areas which have high immigrant populations.
The day I meet them, they’re in an area of LA which is heavily Latino. Armed with walkie talkies to communicate with each other, megaphones to warn the community and leaflets to raise awareness they set out in cars in different directions.
Image: A volunteer from Union del Barrio shows Sky’s Martha Kelner how they try to stay one step ahead of ICE agents
They’re looking for cars used by ICE agents to monitor “targets”.
“That vehicle looks a little suspicious,” says Ron, pointing out a white SUV with blacked-out windows, “but there’s nobody in it”.
An elderly Latino man is standing on a street corner, cutting fruit to sell at his stall. “He’s the exact target that they’re looking for,” Ron says. “That’s what they’re doing now. The low-hanging fruit, the easy victim. And so that is proving to be more successful for their quotas.”
Image: This man, selling fruit on a street corner in LA, is a potential target of immigration agents
In the end, it turns out to be a quiet morning in this part of LA, no brewing immigration operations. But elsewhere in the city, dawn raids are happening.
ICE agents are under pressure from the White House to boost their deportation numbers in line with Donald Trump’s campaign promise to crack down on illegal immigration.
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In June, tear gas and rubber bullets were fired at protestors demonstrating against immigration raids
Maria’s husband Javier was one of those arrested in LA. He came to the United States from Mexico when he was 19 and is now 58.
The couple have three grown-up children and two grandchildren. But Javier’s work permit expired two years ago, according to Maria and so he was living here illegally.
Image: Maria’s husband Javier was arrested after his work permit expired
She shows me a video taken last month when Javier was at work at a car wash in Pomona, an area of LA. He is being handcuffed and arrested by armed and masked ICE agents, forced into a car. He is now being held at a detention centre two hours away.
“I know they’re doing their job,” she says, “but it’s like, ‘you don’t have to do it like that.’ Getting them and, you know, forcing people and pushing them down on the ground. They’re not animals.”
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US troops accused of ‘political stunt’ after park raid
Maria wipes away tears as she explains the impact of his absence for the past four weeks. “It’s been so hard without him,” she says. “You feel alone when you get used to somebody and he’s not there any more. We’ve never been apart for as long as this.”
The family have a lawyer and is appealing for him to remain in the US, but Maria fears he will be sent back to Mexico or even a third country.
Image: Maria fears her husband, who has lived in the US for nearly 40 years, will be sent back to Mexico
“I don’t know what to say to my grandkids because the oldest one, who is five was very attached to his papas, as he calls him. And he’s asking me, ‘When is papa coming home?’ and I don’t know what to say. He’s not a criminal.”
The fear in immigrant communities can be measured by the empty restaurant booths and streets that are far quieter than usual.
Image: People in LA are being asked to report sightings of ICE officials so others can be warned
I meet Soledad at the Mexican restaurant she owns in Hollywood. When I arrive, she’s watching the local news on the TV as yet another raid unfolds at a nearby farm.
She’s shaking her head as ICE agents face off with protesters and military helicopters hover overhead. “I am scared. I am very scared,” she says.
All of her eight employees are undocumented, and four of them are too scared to come into work, she says, in case they get arrested. The process to get papers, she says, is too long and too expensive.
Image: Soledad, who owns a Mexican restaurant, plans to hide her illegal workers if immigration officials arrive
“They call me and tell me they are too afraid to come in because immigration is around,” she says.
“I have to work double shifts to be able to make up for their hours, and yes, I am very desperate, and sometimes I cry… We have no sales, and no money to pay their wages.”
There is just one woman eating fajitas at a booth, where there would usually be a lunchtime rush. People are chilled by the raids.
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Soledad says she plans to hide her illegal workers if immigration officials arrive.
“I’ve told them, get inside the fridge, hide behind the stove, climb up where we have a space to store boxes, do not run because they will hunt you down.”
The White House says they’re protecting the country from criminals. ICE agents have been shot at while carrying out operations, their work becoming more dangerous by the day.
The tension here is ratcheting up. Deportation numbers are rising too. But the order from Donald Trump is to arrest even more people living here illegally.
Two people are dead after multiple people were injured in shootings in Kentucky, the state’s governor has said.
Andy Beshear said the suspect had also been killed following the shooting at Richmond Road Baptist Church in Lexington.
A state trooper was earlier shot at Blue Grass Airport in Fayette County on Sunday morning, the Lexington Herald-Leader local newspaper reports.
Mr Beshear has said a state trooper “from the initial stop” and people who were injured in the church shooting are “being treated at a nearby hospital”.
The extent of the injuries is not immediately known.
State troopers and the Lexington Police Department had caught up with the suspect at the church following the shooting in Fayette County, according to Sky News’ US partner network NBC News.
Mr Beshear said: “Please pray for everyone affected by these senseless acts of violence, and let’s give thanks for the swift response by the Lexington Police Department and Kentucky State Police.”
The Blue Grass Airport posted on X at 1pm local time (6pm UK time) that a law enforcement investigation was impacting a portion of an airport road, but that all flights and operations were now proceeding normally.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.