Washington, DC – As CBS News reports, the Biden campaign is planning to go “on the offensive on immigration, decrying ‘scary’ Trump plans.” The news follows a New York Times deep-dive detailing chilling immigration plans that Donald Trump and Stephen Miller promise, as Trump attempts to whitewash the cruelty and failures of his first term. Even by Trump standards, the former president has escalated his dangerous rhetoric and threats in recent weeks, including stating that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” and labeling political opponents “vermin,” echoing “dictators Hitler, Mussolini,” as the Washington Post assessed. As the CBS News article notes:
“President Biden’s 2024 campaign is staging a public messaging offensive on immigration policy to condemn proposals by former President Donald Trump that it says will trample on the U.S. Constitution, American values and the rights of immigrants … On Wednesday, the president’s campaign plans to highlight Trump’s praise for his infamous border policy of separating migrant children from their parents, and his refusal so far to rule out reinstating it. The campaign also plans to condemn Trump’s vow to launch the ‘largest deportation operation’ in U.S. history, and his invocation of ‘Operation Wetback’…
… Matt Barreto, a pollster commissioned by groups allied to Democrats, said it is ‘smart’ for the Biden campaign to draw contrasts between the president’s immigration agenda and what he called Trump’s ‘extreme’ and ‘draconian’ proposals. He said Americans are generally accepting of immigrants, citing polling that shows broad support for legal immigration, and granting legal status to some undocumented immigrants.”
According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
“The Biden campaign is making it clear that the anti-democratic, anti-immigrant plans of the proposed Trump second term are a menace to all of us. From promised deportation camps to his defense of family separation to his dehumanizing white nationalist language, a Trump second term would not just be devastating for immigrant communities, but would inflict massive damage on our democracy and what presidential candidate Joe Biden called ‘the soul of America.’ The sum total of Trump’s rhetoric and policy outlines isn’t a plan for managing immigration, but a strategy to undermine our democracy and redefine who we are as a nation.
Voters rejected Trumpism before, including recoiling against the chaos and cruelty and broader extremism it represented. The stakes are even higher now. Trump is escalating, or perhaps devolving, and Democrats should make it clear why their approach is more rational, achievable and in line with who we aspire to be as a nation.”
As the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent assessed:
“Ideologues such as Trump and Miller might truly believe the resulting disapproval of Biden means the public will fully embrace their radical vision. It’s telling that Trump … is trumpeting designs with clear White-nationalist implications, such as a revived ban on Muslims and a vision of detention and deportations that appears designed to showcase maximum cruelty for base-thrilling kicks. Yet the depravities of Trump’s first effort at mass deportations generated intense backlash, and his first attempt at a Muslim ban inspired furious outcry precisely because it offended many Americans’ vision of inclusive national identity. While the mere promise of a better-managed border would be a formidable argument against Biden, Trump and Miller seem determined to telegraph unbridled nativist savagery, which could well constitute political overreach in 2024.”
- Read the America’s Voice analysis: “Explosive NYTimes Story on Trump Immigration Plans Is ‘Flashing Red Alert’”
- Read America’s Voice, “Getting the Politics of Immigration Right,” which includes proposed policy recommendations for the Biden administration
