Former Vice President Joe Biden made multiple sturdy, progressive promises on the debate stage Sunday night, including a pledge that a Biden Administration would deport zero illegal immigrants.
Joe Biden: “in the first 100 days of my administration, no one, no one will be deported at all”https://t.co/H6l8frTOAP pic.twitter.com/8v5cqPeuha
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 16, 2020
This promise from the former vice president breaks with the eight years of the Obama administration, which posted record deportation numbers. In the first three years alone, President Obama deported over a million undocumented immigrants; in the equivalent time period, the Trump Administration deported less than 800,000. By the end of his two terms, former President Obama had deported over 3 million people.
Biden promised that only violent felons will be deported under his Administration:
"In the first 100 days of my administration, no one, no one will be deported at all. From that point on, the only deportations that will take place are commissions of felonies in the United States of America,” the former vice president said.
Biden has not yet embraced the immigration stance of Sen. Sanders, at least in full. Sen. Sanders has fully endorsed abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE):
We will put a moratorium on deportations and break up ICE so that no family has to live in terror of losing their loved ones. We must stand with our immigrant family and, together, build an immigration system grounded in civil and human rights. https://t.co/gzSG73NosY
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 27, 2019
Former Vice President Biden is forced, yet again, to take progressive stances on issues important to Americans, because of the Democratic Party’s vehemently progressive shift. Unregulated, free-for-all immigration policy, which actually puts American lives at risk, does not resonate with the voters that the former vice president should be attempting to court. Immigration was a center-stage issue in the 2016 general election, and President Trump’s bold promises for crackdowns on immigration undoubtedly helped put him in the White House.
