I never believed Biden was serious about fixing the border crisis he created, but I did think he was serious about pretending that he cared. Once polls showed that Americans are increasingly concerned about immigration as they are about the economy, Biden did a complete 180, finally acknowledged the crisis, and went with the strategy of blaming Trump and the GOP for the border crisis.
Was it a ridiculous strategy? Yes. But, you know, at least he tried to own it. He went all in on that terrible bipartisan border deal. When it failed, he blamed Trump and MAGA Republicans. Through it all, it was obvious he was never actually serious about solving the border crisis he created, but at least an effort was being made to make it seem like he was. I guess that was better than nothing.
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Of course, Biden did himself no favors when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene successfully forced him to acknowledge Laken Riley, and then he got her name wrong.
“Lincoln — Lincoln Riley,” Biden said. “An innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal.”
Getting Laken's name wrong was awful and insulting. But Democrats were suddenly furious that Biden used the word "illegal" to describe an illegal immigrant. Even former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized him for using the word, saying he “should have said undocumented.”
Even Biden's own campaign co-chair, Mitch Landrieu, criticized Biden.
“He probably should’ve used a different word and I think he would know that. But what you should notice about that is not that he made a small mistake,” Landrieu told CNN on Friday. “The big thing that he didn’t write, and this is what this president always does, is express empathy to people, he expressed kindness to people. He understands because, as you know, he lost a number of children in his life.”
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There was plenty more criticism from the left, and Biden promptly backtracked.
In an interview with MSNBC on Saturday, Joe Biden expressed regret for using the word "illegal."
“And I shouldn't have used illegal, I should've… It's undocumented. And look, when I spoke about the difference between Trump and me, one of the things I talked about on the border was his – the way he talks about vermin, the way he talks about these people polluting the blood. I talked about what I'm not going to do, and what I won't do," Biden told host Jonathan Capehart. "I'm not going to treat any, any, any of these people with disrespect. Look, they built the country. The reason our economy is growing, we have to control the border and more orderly flow. But I don't share his view at all."
“So, you regret using that word?” Capehart asked.
“Yes,” Biden told him.
Imagine, the illegal immigrant who killed Laken Riley was in this country because of Joe Biden's open border policies, and he has the audacity to apologize for calling the murderer an "illegal" rather than apologize to Laken Riley's family for letting him into this country in the first place. Does that sound like someone who's serious about the border? Does that sound like someone who regrets allowing criminals into this country in record numbers?
And with that disgusting apology for accurately calling Laken Riley's killer an illegal, Joe Biden might as well give up trying to flip the script on immigration. He's not even trying to pretend to care anymore.
