Biden’s 2019 ‘Surge To The Border’ Comments Resurface Amid Growing Crisis

President Joe Biden is facing renewed criticism over past remarks that he made while on the campaign trail about immigration-related issues on the southern border.

The remarks, which come from a September 2019 Democratic presidential debate, recirculated online as Biden deals with a crisis that has unfolded under his leadership on the southern border.

When asked by host Jorge Ramos about deportations that happened during the Obama-era and why Latinos should trust Biden, Biden responded, “What Latinos should look at is comparing this president to the president we have is outrageous, number one.”

“We didn’t lock people up in cages,” Biden claimed. “We didn’t separate families. We didn’t do all of those things, number one.” As USA Today noted in an Aug. 2020 fact check, the Obama administration approved and built the so-called “cages” designed to temporarily hold migrant minors.

A few moments later, Biden stated:

What I would do as president is several more things, because things have changed. I would, in fact, make sure that there is, we immediately surge to the border — all those people are seeking asylum, they deserve to be heard. That’s who we are. We’re a nation who says, if you want to flee, and you’re freeing oppression, you should come.

WATCH:

Flashback:

In the first Democratic primary debate, Biden says when he’s president, illegal immigrants should “immediately surge to the border” pic.twitter.com/Fq1vCNEN75

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) March 17, 2021

TRANSCRIPT:

RAMOS: Vice President Biden, as a presidential candidate, in 2008, you supported the border wall, saying, “Unlike most Democrats, I voted for 700 miles of fence.” This is what you said.

Then you served as vice president in an administration that deported 3 million people, the most ever in U.S. history. Did you do anything to prevent those deportations? I mean, you’ve been asked this question before and refused to answer, so let me try once again. Are you prepared to say tonight that you and President Obama made a mistake about deportations? Why should Latinos trust you?

BIDEN: What Latinos should look at is comparing this president to the president we have is outrageous, number one. We didn’t lock people up in cages. We didn’t separate families. We didn’t do all of those things, number one.

Number two, number two, by the time, this is a president who came along with the DACA program. No one had ever done that before. This is the president that sent legislation to the desk saying he wants to find a pathway for the 11 million undocumented in the United States of America. This is a president who’s done a great deal. So I’m proud to have served with him.

What I would do as president is several more things, because things have changed. I would, in fact, make sure that there is, we immediately surge to the border — all those people are seeking asylum, they deserve to be heard. That’s who we are. We’re a nation who says, if you want to flee, and you’re freeing oppression, you should come.

I would change the order that the president just changed, saying women who were being beaten and abused could no longer claim that as a reason for asylum.

And by the way, retrospectively, you know, the 25th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act is up. The Republican Congress has not reauthorized it. Let’s put pressure on them to pass the Violence Against Women Act now!

RAMOS: Yeah, but you didn’t answer the question.

BIDEN: Well, I did answer the question.

RAMOS: No, did you make a mistake with those deportations?

BIDEN: The president did the best thing that was able to be done at the time.

RAMOS: How about you?

BIDEN: I’m the vice president of the United States.

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