On Monday, former Vice President Joe Biden published an op-ed in the Miami Herald slamming the Trump administration for “morally bankrupt” policies regarding Latin America and presenting his immigration agenda as an example of “America’s values.” Ironically, he blamed the Trump administration for immigration actions that took place while Biden was vice president and blatantly lied about others.
“Under Trump, there have been horrifying scenes at the border of kids being kept in cages, tear-gassing asylum seekers, ripping children from their mothers’ arms — actions that subvert American values and erode our ability to lead on the global stage,” Biden wrote. “At a time when the challenges we face demand a united, regional response, Trump repeatedly invokes racist invective to describe anyone south of the Rio Grande, including calling migrants ‘animals.'”
Many of these “horrifying scenes” more accurately describe the government under Barack Obama, rather than under Donald Trump.
For instance, the infamous photos of “kids in cages” by the border came from 2014 under the Obama administration, not under Trump. Photos showing immigrants sleeping on the concrete floor also date from Obama’s tenure, in 2015.
The Obama administration used tear gas against immigrants 126 times, according to FactCheck.org. The Obama administration also separated families at the border, refusing to place children in detention centers with their parents. Democrats have demonized these policies, conveniently forgetting that Democratic presidents have also used them.
Biden’s claim that Trump used the term “animals” in a racist fashion to demonize “anyone south of the Rio Grande” is perhaps the worst lie of all. Trump called the vile murderers and rapists of the international gang MS-13 “animals.” The New York Times led other media outlets in concocting a fake news narrative that Trump’s dehumanizing comment referred vaguely to illegal immigrants, rather than to members of the horrific gang.
Many Democrats parroted the fake news, however, suggesting that Trump’s comments referred to asylum seekers, rather than MS-13 gang members. PolitiFact exposed this horrific lie, but it seems Joe Biden wasn’t paying attention.
Later in his article, Biden claimed that Trump is a threat to “the international coalition of more than 50 countries that recognize Juan Guaidó as the interim president of Venezuela.” Yet Trump’s administration was the very first to recognize Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate leader, assembling the very coalition that he supposedly threatens.
Worse, Biden gladly met with Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro four years ago. The Obama administration blocked sanctions against Maduro’s government.
Joe Biden talks a big game now but was all smiles with Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro just 4 years ago. The best he could do was complement the dictator’s hair.
Meanwhile, the Obama-Biden Administration blocked sanctions against Maduro: https://t.co/MV0NFJ9OhA pic.twitter.com/i4TzkpVIaY
— Trump War Room – Text WOKE to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) June 24, 2019
Finally, Biden attacked the idea of Trump’s wall on the southern border with Mexico. Such a wall “won’t stop the flow of illegal narcotics or human trafficking, both of which come primarily through legal ports of entry. Nor will it stop asylum seekers fleeing the most desperate conditions imaginable and who have the right to have their cases heard.”
Yet in 2006, he supported a border fence because “people are driving across that border with TONS, TONS, hear me, TONS of everything from byproducts for methamphetamine to cocaine to heroin & it’s all coming up through corrupt Mexico.”
Biden: “I believe the fence is needed…[because] people are driving across that border with TONS, TONS, hear me, TONS of everything from byproducts for methamphetamine to cocaine to heroin & it's all coming up through corrupt Mexico.”
Thanks for the support Joe!
BUILD THE WALL! pic.twitter.com/RpYtxtTFIX
— Trump War Room – Text WOKE to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) May 10, 2019
In a debate with Barack Obama for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, Biden said, “the reason I voted for the fence was that was the only alternative that was there, and I voted for the fence related to drugs. You can — a fence will stop 20 kilos of cocaine coming through that fence. It will not stop someone climbing over it or around it.”
If Trump’s immigration policies are “morally bankrupt,” how much more were Obama’s! Why didn’t Joe Biden chide his former boss for such horrific policies out of step with “America’s values?” Why didn’t Joe Biden resign as Obama’s vice president in protest?
Americans should see through Biden’s sermonizing on immigration, and look beyond his newfound platitudes. This article is nothing but a cheap shot at Trump, spreading lies and fake news and blaming the sitting president for acts committed by his predecessor.
Follow Tyler O’Neil, the author of this article, on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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