President Biden and his presumptive opponent Donald Trump each amplified the case of a particular undocumented immigrant last week, using vastly divergent language in a preview of the sharp contrast they plan to draw on immigration during their debate Thursday.<\/p>\n
At a June 18 rally in Racine, Wis., Trump railed against a man from El Salvador accused of murdering a Maryland mother of five, calling him an \u201canimal.\u201d About an hour earlier at the White House, Biden praised \u201cangels\u201d like Javier Quiroz Castro, a nurse who served patients suffering from covid-19 at the height of the pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you for what you did to help us get through the pandemic, pal, and for all you\u2019re doing for our country,\u201d Biden said while announcing a program to make it easier for Castro and other undocumented immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens to apply for legal residency.<\/p>\n
The dueling speeches reflect the competing approaches the two candidates are taking as they confront a contentious issue that polls show has become increasingly salient for voters. Those strategies are likely to be on display Thursday, as Trump seizes on a subject that was central to his political rise while Biden argues that Trump is torpedoing actual solutions to preserve a political issue.<\/p>\n
As Trump repeatedly cites instances of what he has branded \u201cBiden migrant crime,\u201d Biden is aiming to train Americans\u2019 focus away from the surge of migration at the southern border during his presidency. After issuing new asylum restrictions this month that could shut down much of the border, Biden\u2019s latest move seeks to highlight a more sympathetic group \u2014 undocumented residents who have been in the country for years, working and becoming part of their communities.<\/p>\n
Both men are planning to go on the attack on the issue during Thursday\u2019s debate, aides say. With immigration emerging as one of Biden\u2019s biggest political liabilities, according to polls, his ability to parry Trump\u2019s expected onslaught and make a case for his policies could prove especially challenging.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrump and Republicans obviously are not worrying about walking any fine lines on immigration. They have put all their chips on the table in favor of attacking immigrants as criminals, terrorists and economic threats,\u201d said Dan Tichenor, a professor at the University of Oregon who has written about the politics of immigration. \u201cThe debate is almost certain to highlight a familiar contrast \u2014 Trump assailing immigrant threats and border chaos, and Biden asserting that his opponents are making a false choice between border security and welcoming immigrants.\u201d<\/p>\n
The debate could also offer Trump an opportunity to clarify his position on legal immigration after saying last week he supported giving green cards to every foreign student who graduates from a U.S. college. The remark, made during an interview with the \u201cAll-In\u201d podcast, drew criticism from some Trump supporters who saw it as a major departure from his broader anti-immigration platform.<\/p>\n
Still, the shift in Americans\u2019 views on the border during Biden\u2019s presidency suggests he may have the harder task in convincing voters that his approach is sound. While Trump\u2019s tenure was marked by traumatic scenes of migrant families being separated and pitched political battles over his proposed border wall, recent polls suggest Americans have come to see his restrictive approach to immigration more favorably.<\/p>\n
A YouGov poll conducted for the Economist earlier this month, for example, found that 62 percent of Americans disapproved of Biden\u2019s handling of immigration, with only 29 percent approving.<\/p>\n
Voters prefer Trump to Biden on handling immigration by a 2-to-1 margin (52 percent to 26 percent), according to a recent Washington Post-Schar School poll of voters in six swing states. That poll also found 58 percent of voters saying undocumented immigrants in the United States should be offered a chance to apply for legal status while 42 percent said they should be deported to the countries they came from.<\/p>\n
Biden, after recent movements that courted \u2014 and angered \u2014 each side, is bracing for tough questions at the debate, according to aides and advisers, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the event.<\/p>\n
This is not a new challenge for the president. Biden took office promising a more humane approach after Trump\u2019s harsh policies, but a record surge of migrants at the border has provided fodder for Trump to attack his rival on a matter that has long been central to the former president\u2019s \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d pitch.<\/p>\n
Of late, Biden has sought to take a tougher line on border security, saying that the \u201cgoodwill of the American people is wearing thin right now.\u201d He backed a bipartisan bill several months ago that would have effectively shut down the border if illegal crossings surpassed 5,000 a day.<\/p>\n
But Republicans, encouraged by Trump, blocked that bill, some saying they wanted to prevent Biden from neutralizing the volatile political issue. In response, Biden recently issued an executive order to block migrants\u2019 access to the U.S. asylum system when illegal border crossings exceed 2,500 a day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must face a simple truth: To protect America as a land that welcomes immigrants, we must first secure the border and secure it now,\u201d Biden said on June 4 as he announced the new restrictions.<\/p>\n
While liberals and immigration advocates slammed the order as caving to Trump\u2019s anti-immigrant approach, the president\u2019s aides said he had little choice but to address an issue that is causing increasing anxiety among voters.<\/p>\n
Aides suggest Biden will go into the debate ready to aggressively spar with Trump on immigration. He has accused the former president of playing politics on the issue, seeking to exploit the divisive problem rather than solve it. At the same time, Biden has cast other White House actions \u2014 including the move last week to protect more than 500,000 undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens \u2014 as pragmatic, effective and humane.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a huge opportunity here to take control of the immigration narrative,\u201d said Matt A. Barreto, a pollster for the Biden campaign focusing on Latinos. \u201cBiden can now say, \u2018You have done nothing except say crazy things. I\u2019m the one taking action. I\u2019ve secured the border, decreased migrant crossings, and now I\u2019m providing relief so we can keep families together.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Specifically, Biden plans to draw a contrast between his recent executive action and Trump\u2019s policy of separating migrant children from their parents, according to advisers.<\/p>\n
Republicans predict such arguments are unlikely to sway voters, who trust Trump far more on immigration, and even many Democrats say the most Biden can hope for is to modestly blunt his opponent\u2019s advantage. Even as migrant crossings have declined in recent weeks, Trump has increased his focus on the issue, zeroing in on specific cases of violent crimes allegedly committed by men who crossed the border during Biden\u2019s presidency.<\/p>\n
At rallies and in social media posts, Trump has telegraphed the kind of attacks he plans to launch Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a new Biden Migrant Killing \u2014 It\u2019s only going to get worse, and it\u2019s all Crooked Joe Biden\u2019s fault,\u201d Trump wrote last week on his Truth Social website, posting a news report about two Venezuelan migrants charged with killing a 12-year-old girl in Houston. \u201cI look forward to seeing him at the Fake Debate on Thursday. Let him explain why he has allowed MILLIONS of people to come into our Country illegally!\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s focus on such individual cases comes at a time when violent crime overall has been declining, and Biden has pointed to data showing immigrants are less likely to break the law than native-born citizens. But those statistics have not shielded the president from voter angst over his immigration policies, something Trump aides say the former president will seize on when the two men share a stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn every poll, Americans trust President Trump over Joe Biden on immigration, and the majority of Americans support President Trump\u2019s plans for mass deportations,\u201d Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that also blasted Biden for the national security risks and economic costs ostensibly associated with record border crossings.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmericans are tired of being put last \u2014 and President Trump will put our citizens first again by taking day one action to shut down the southern border and deport Biden\u2019s illegal aliens,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Aides to Biden say Trump\u2019s rhetoric on immigration often veers into extremism and that Thursday\u2019s debate will allow Americans to see firsthand the former president\u2019s embrace of racist ideas, turning off Latinos and moderates. Biden has used his platform lately to quote Trump\u2019s most incendiary comments about foreigners.<\/p>\n
Trump has claimed immigrants are \u201cpoisoning the blood\u201d of America, falsely accused Biden of facilitating a \u201cholocaust\u201d of missing migrant children and tarred broad groups of immigrants with dehumanizing language.<\/p>\n
During a speech to Christian conservatives on Saturday, Trump suggested that \u201ca migrant league of fighters\u201d could be created in which immigrants would be pitted against each other for entertainment.<\/p>\n
Biden should not shy away from confronting Trump about such language, said Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist. \u201cThere is a huge, huge pitfall for Trump in going full-bore xenophobia on this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Biden\u2019s allies also hope Thursday\u2019s format will highlight Trump\u2019s positions on immigration and repel moderate voters.<\/p>\n
There will be no studio audience at the debate, and microphones for each candidate will be shut off when they do not have the floor. Without the vocal response of an applauding crowd or the ability to interrupt his rival, Trump could have a difficult time selling his arguments about migrant crime and mass deportations, said Barreto.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrump is going to have to convince Americans that the immigrants they know are murderers and killers and rapists,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd outside of maybe a quarter of his base, the rest of the American public does not believe that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emily Guskin contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
President Biden and his presumptive opponent Donald Trump each amplified the case of a particular undocumented immigrant last week, using vastly divergent language in a preview of the sharp contrast they plan to draw on immigration during their debate Thursday. At a June 18 rally in Racine, Wis., Trump railed against a man from El […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5535,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}