Kamala Harris criticises Joe Biden's race record during Democratic debate

Joe Biden's record on race and civil rights came under pressure during an emotional exchange at the Democratic debate.

The former vice-president and current frontrunner for the Democratic nomination was attacked by California senator Kamala Harris during the debate in Miami.

Ms Harris, a former prosecutor, called Mr Biden's remarks about working with segregationist senators "hurtful" and questioned his 1970s opposition to school busing.

Although American schools were technically desegregated in 1954 they remained largely segregated due to trends in housing and neighbourhood segregation.

Busing, which disappeared by the early 1990s, was seen as the main remedy for this.

Ms Harris, the daughter of a black father from Jamaica and an Indian mother, spoke about a little girl who was bused in the 1970s before revealing: "That little girl was me".

She said to Mr Biden: "I do not believe you are a racist.

"And I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground.

"But I also believe - and it's personal and it was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country."

Many saw Ms Harris as the winner of the debate.

Mr Biden, who served for eight years as vice president under Barack Obama, has already been criticised for saying that he worked with segregationists earlier in his career to achieve things in the Senate.

He replied: "It's a mischaracterisation of my position across the board: I did not praise racists. That is not true.

"If we want to have this campaign litigated on who supports civil rights and whether I did or not, I'm happy to do that.

"Everything I have done in my career, I ran because of civil rights and continue to think we have to make fundamental changes and those civil rights, by the way, include not just African-Americans, but the LGBT community," he said.

Illegal immigration was also a major focus of the debate and all but one contender (Colorado senator Michael Bennet) said they would make illegally crossing the border a civil offence, rather than a criminal one.

Also, all 10 candidates said their health insurance plans would cover people who arrived in the US illegally.

But Donald Trump tweeted: "All Democrats just raised their hands for giving away millions of illegal aliens unlimited healthcare. How about taking care of American Citizens first!? That's the end of that race!"

Mr Biden has a healthy lead in opinion polls, while Mr Sanders had been running second but has seen some of his supporters drift to Elizabeth Warren.

First 10 candidates hoping to oust Trump

The Democratic debates are spread over two nights. These were the contenders from the first night.

There is a large field of contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination and the debates were spread over two nights.

The second night of the debates also included senator Kirsten Gillibrand, former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper, US representative Eric Swalwell, self-help guru Marianne Williamson and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.

They are all polling at around 1% or less.