Biden swipes at Trump's immigration policy in surprise St. Patrick's Day remarks |
Biden swipes at Trump’s immigration policy in surprise St. Patrick’s Day remarks
Former President Biden reflected on his Irish ancestors’ migration journey to the U.S. and criticized the Trump administration’s immigration policies during a St. Patrick’s Day event in Boston on Tuesday morning.
In a surprise appearance at the Irish American Partnership’s annual St. Patrick’s Day breakfast, the former president contrasted his ancestors’ escape from Ireland’s Great Famine to the current state of immigration enforcement in the U.S., The Boston Globe reported.
“Let’s not lose sight of the bonds we share with today’s immigrants, families who are enduring fear and violence at the hands … of our government,” Biden said, according to the Globe. “That’s not who we are. That’s not who America is.”
Biden’s comments follow the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations in states including Minnesota, California, Illinois and Maine, which was met with significant pushback from the Democrats who lead those states as well as Democratic members of Congress.
Senate Democrats are currently in a standoff with Republicans over funding the Department of Homeland Security, which has been shut down for over a month. Little progress has been made as Democrats have declined to support any legislation that does not reform immigration enforcement.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D), who is also of Irish descent, supported Biden’s sentiment in her remarks at the Tuesday breakfast.
“We see immigrants being demonized, intimidated, and in many cases being treated so, so unjustly, and in ways that are truly un-American,” Healey told the audience, according to the Globe. “Many of our common ancestors did not receive the warmest welcome. Let us learn from our mistakes.”
Similar to other former presidents, Biden has kept a relatively low profile since leaving the Oval Office, occasionally taking to social media to speak out against President Trump’s policies.
Biden criticized the administration’s Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis, Minn., saying federal agents’ use of force during this enforcement operation “betrays our most basic values as Americans.”
The former president posted this message on the social platform X three days after agents shot and killed a second Minnesota resident during the operation.
“Minnesotans have reminded us all what it is to be American, and they have suffered enough at the hands of this Administration,” Biden continued. “Violence and terror have no place in the United States of America, especially when it’s our own government targeting American citizens.”
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