President Joe Biden insisted Tuesday that he is not “playing politics” with immigration policy, at the same event where he criticized former President Donald Trump for promising to put illegal immigrants in detention camps.
At an event in the East Room, Biden unveiled a new policy that would allow roughly 500,000 undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens a path to citizenship if they have lived in the country for at least 10 years.
Biden suggested the election-year measure would be taken this summer to prevent some of the deportations Trump has promised if he wins in the fall.
“When I was president, I separated families and children at the border,” Biden recalled. “And now he proposes ripping wives and children from their families, homes and communities and putting them in detention camps.”
The angry Democrat continued: ‘He’s actually saying these things. It’s hard to believe what is said. In fact, he is saying these things out loud.
President Joe Biden said he was not “playing politics” with the border, although he criticized former President Donald Trump for his plans to put illegal immigrants in detention camps if he wins in November.
President Joe Biden (left) hugs Javier Quiroz Castro (right) at the White House on Tuesday. As the president commemorated the 15th anniversary of DACA, which gave Castro citizenship, he launched a plan to help the spouses of U.S. citizens who entered the United States illegally become citizens.
“It’s outrageous,” Biden said.
“Friends, I’m not interested in playing politics with the border or immigration. What I’m interested in is fixing it,” the Democrat added.
Tuesday’s announcement came after Biden moved earlier this month to close border crossings between the United States and Mexico, preventing most migrants from being able to apply for asylum if they entered the United States that way.
That policy was more in line with what Trump has proposed.
Trump has since called it “nonsense” as much of the Republican’s campaign has been based on claiming that Biden has done nothing to secure the US-Mexico border.
At the same time, liberal groups were dissatisfied with Biden’s executive action as it reflected a policy backed by Trump.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre denied that Tuesday’s move to help spouses, which coincided with the 15th anniversary of the DACA program, would provide a counterweight to the controversial asylum plan.
Former President Donald Trump, seen at a campaign event Saturday in Detroit, called Biden’s executive order on asylum “nonsense,” while vowing to put illegal immigrants in detention camps before mass deportation.
“I wouldn’t look at it that way, I really wouldn’t,” he said.
“We’re looking at an immigration policy that hasn’t been renewed in some time and the president wants to address that,” he continued. “And we can do the EO and deal with border security … and also make sure that American families are not separated.”
During the East Room event, Biden insisted he could do two things at once: secure the border and provide a path to citizenship for some illegal residents.
“I refuse to believe that to secure our border we have to stop being the United States,” Biden said.
“But I also refuse to believe that in order for us to remain America, to accept immigration, we have to give up protecting our border,” he continued.
“They are false options,” added the president. “We can secure the border and provide legal pathways to citizenship.”