“I will not demonize the migrants”, the US Democratic president promised this Thursday Joe Biden during his State of the Union address to Congress, in which he attacked his rival’s anti-immigrant rhetoric Donald Trump.
“I will not demonize immigrants by saying they are ‘poisoning the blood of our country,’” said the Democrat.
“I will not separate families”he added in clear reference to the policy of “zero tolerance” against illegal migration applied by his Republican predecessor from 2017 to January 2021, under which thousands of children were separated from their families to discourage the massive arrival of migrants without a visa across the border with Mexico.
The immigration crisis is a hot topic in the campaign for the November presidential elections, which will likely be contested by Biden and Trump.
At his rallies the Republican promises “the largest deportation in history” of the United States if he returns to the White House. The migrants ““They are killing our country, they are killing our people.” and “they poison the blood of the country”, repeat ad nauseam.
In his annual speech before Congress, the Democrat tried to differentiate himself from him on all fronts, including immigration.
He accused him of engaging in politicking and “put pressure on congressmen” Republicans to block a bipartisan bill that Biden considers essential and his opponents too lax.
“Fight” or “fix it”
Biden called on the House of Representatives, under Republican control, to approve this bill that allows restricting the flow of migrants on the border with Mexico, favors accelerated expulsions and toughens the standard of so-called credible fear interviews to request asylum.
“We can fight about how to solve the border. Or we can fix it. I’m ready to fix it. Send me the border bill now” to sign it, Biden insisted.
The 81-year-old Democrat recalled that, unlike Trump, on his first day in office he presented a bill “comprehensive” to fix the immigration system, but Congress blocked it.
In fact, many Latinos are disappointed in him for not having been able to fulfill his promise of granting citizenship to millions of people who have been living illegally in the United States for years, including the dreamers, as young people who came to the country as children are known.
A few hours before the State of the Union address, the Republican majority in the House of Representatives adopted a bill that provides for the arrest of any migrant convicted of theft.
This text was called “Laken Riley Act”in honor of a student murdered in February by a Venezuelan migrant in an illegal situation, according to the police, and who became a symbol for conservatives of what Trump calls “migrant crime.”
“Lincoln Riley, an innocent young woman who was murdered by an illegal, that’s what it is. But how many thousands of people are killed for legal reasons?”Biden asked himself.
“To your parents I say: my heart is with you,” he said, but added that the number of migrants arriving could decrease if “the dynamics at the border” are changed.
Migrants pay human smugglers about $8,000 to cross the border because they know that if they succeed, “it will be six to eight years before a hearing and it is worth the risk,” he explained.
“But it’s only six months, six weeks.” is “very unlikely that people will pay that money” because they can be “expelled quickly”he added to try to convince the Republican side.
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Source: Gestion
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