NEW: My feature I worked on last few months examining Biden’s immigration record, from comments after Reagan’s amnesty, thru votes in the 90s and 2000s he’ll have to answer for, to his bipartisan approach to Latin America that bolster his argument he has the experience to govern.
More than the crime bill, or busing, two issues from his past that have been heavily litigated during the campaign, what Biden believes on immigration & the moral authority he brings to a potential Trump fight could decide if Dems take back the White House news.yahoo.com/biden-hopes-to…
I asked @CosechaMovement activists that protested Biden at the debate what they want to hear from him. They want him to apologize for Obama’s 3 million deportations
“He wants the Latino vote, but he’s not saying, ‘I’m sorry,’” Ofelia, an activist w/ the group told me in Spanish
“He wants the Latino vote, but he’s not saying, ‘I’m sorry,’” Ofelia, an activist w/ the group told me in Spanish
But a Biden-world source explained to me what’s behind the calculation not to apologize.
“There can be no daylight between Biden and Obama; he’s always going to get Obama’s back. He knows mistakes were made at the beginning [on deportations] but they did get it right at the end”
“There can be no daylight between Biden and Obama; he’s always going to get Obama’s back. He knows mistakes were made at the beginning [on deportations] but they did get it right at the end”
Major primary issue ➡️ Biden doesn’t grasp — or perhaps genuinely isn’t concerned — that by defending Obama and refusing to reckon w/ his immigration policy and record of deportations, he’s sending a message to Dems and activists that a Biden administration will be no different.
You always wonder how major candidates saw key issues early on. One thing I learned is that Biden has long described immigration as stitched into the American fabric, as he did three decades ago, as Ronald Reagan’s “amnesty” law came to be.
Biden expressed hope that legalizing undocumented immigrants would “move a growing underclass living in the shadows into the daylight of citizenship and opportunity. These individuals must become full participants in our society, not just the object of our concern.”
The quotes seem like they’re from a different time — and they are: “Immigration has always been in the national interest, and the amnesty program in this bill represents the best of that tradition. By turning strangers in our midst into friends and neighbors we trust."
In 1994, tucked inside the controversial crime bill Biden designed was a Battered Women Immigrant Provision. This section “allowed undocumented women physically abused by their partners to petition for legal status themselves.“
”Previously, they were only able to do so through a husband who had legal status, putting untold numbers of women at the mercy of their abusers.” That’s from socialist mag Jacobin, which otherwise called Biden an “anti-immigrant enabler” primarily for two votes in 1996 and 2006.
The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 was widely supported by Dems at the time, but is now viewed as a vehicle for making deportations easier, establishing the practice of deputizing local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law
and creating the punitive three- and 10-year bars, which prohibit reentry based on time spent in the country illegally. In 2016, Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona and 32 other Democrats put forward a resolution calling for repealing much of the law.
In 2006, Biden, along with Obama and Hillary Clinton, voted for the Secure Fence Act, which authorized 700 miles of fencing along the border, and Ramos pressed him on during the last debate.
As @KFILE first uncovered, Biden’s ‘08 site was closer to Jeb Bush ‘16 than Biden now, w/ a path to bring 12 million immigrants out of the shadows but also increased $$ for border patrol, no driver's licenses for undocumented & saying sanctuary cities shouldn't ignore federal law
Current Biden officials told me his administration would be informed by the policy he implemented as vice president, specifically his work in Central America, which he has tried to invoke in debates but perhaps isn’t the right venue for all the craziness that happened.
60,000 unaccompanied kids came during the summer of 2014, w/ internal WH estimates it could reach as many as 100,000. Biden was asked to deliver a stern warning to the heads of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador that they needed to work together to fix the situation.
What he came up with was a carrot and stick approach in the form of a $750 million bipartisan aid agreement for which Biden took the lead in convincing reticent members of Congress that it was worth it.
The sales job involved him pitching Republican members that it made no sense to devote 90 percent of federal funding to dealing with the crisis on the border, but only 10 percent on helping governments address and stem the root causes of migration.
Latin America policy is a strength for Biden compared to Trump, which a @TheWilsonCenter expert told me is a “counterproductive policy of threat that cuts off your nose to spite your face.” 
“There’s no way Congress would have appropriated the resources if not for his advocacy,” Obama adviser @cecmunoz told me. “He led on addressing the reasons people were migrating in the first place, in a hands-on way.” news.yahoo.com/biden-hopes-to…
Clinton’s 2016 campaign discussed tying immigration to foreign policy at the highest levels, her former national political director, @AmandaRenteria told me, but never rolled out a plan.
“That’s what makes Biden’s immigration work around Latin America more attractive,” she said.
“That’s what makes Biden’s immigration work around Latin America more attractive,” she said.
Biden does have an advantage over some of his primary opponents who have advocated decriminalizing border crossings. Trump could gleefully lob grenades on Twitter and in debates saying they’re for open borders, but not with Biden. news.yahoo.com/biden-hopes-to…
“Is Biden going to continue being the deporter in chief or is he going to learn from the mistakes & chart a different path?” asked @andresramirezlv
“Trump’s record on immigration is an abomination, but Latinos are right to demand clarity on where candidates stand on this issue.”
“Trump’s record on immigration is an abomination, but Latinos are right to demand clarity on where candidates stand on this issue.”
The head of @UnitedWeDream, @CrisAlexJimenez, met w/ Biden camp to give her org’s views on approaching immigration, but said because of the rise in deportations under Obama they’re asking not just how Biden would govern differently than Trump, but also differently than Obama.
Dems & activists expect immigration to be more polarized in Trump’s wake and want Biden & other candidates to pledge to use finite political capital on passing immigration reform in first 100 days. @JMurguia_Unidos
who called Obama the “deporter in chief” in 2014, is among them.
who called Obama the “deporter in chief” in 2014, is among them.
KEY POINT: Believe it or not George Washington didn’t create ICE, DHS, or CBP. They’re not hallowed institutions created by the Founding Fathers, but were instead all created post-9/11, over four months from 2002 to 2003. Biden has indicated to allies he’s open to reining them in
