Joe Biden gave an interview to Univision -a movement to try to recover the Hispanic vote, who continue to move away from him - in which he spoke about the border situation, gun control, student debt forgiveness and the cost of medicine, always with a nod towards latinos. In addition to reiterating that Donald Trump is the main threat to democracy - and Hispanics -, the president pointed out that his objective is to increase "legal immigration" and "slow down" the arrival of illegals, for which he is considering issuing an executive order after the failure of Congress to pass legislation. In addition, he stressed that he is "absolutely committed" to the "elimination" of assault weapons.
📌 MIRA AQUÍ: Entrevista exclusiva al presidente Joe Biden en Univision - En Español. #EntrevistaBiden pic.twitter.com/rdJVZFmSjw
— Univision Noticias (@UniNoticias) April 10, 2024
Attacks against Donald Trump
The presenter, Enrique Acevedo, began the conversation by putting on a plate an attack by the leader of the Executive on his main rival for the presidency in November, when asking him about the main risk to "freedom and democracy at home." Of course, the president did not waste the opportunity and responded with a resounding "Donald Trump," going on to emphasize that Hispanics would be in danger if he managed to return to the White House :
Look at the way he talks about minority populations or Hispanics, you know, we're talking about them, anyway. I simply can't think of any other time in my life, in history that has ever occurred, that I have had someone with this kind of attitude. He says he's going to be a dictator from day one. Everyone believes him.
"We're going to make sure we eliminate these weapons"
The presenter then led the president to talk about the ban on firearms, pointing out that "it is the main cause of child deaths in America," and "a priority" for Latinos in the US. Biden assured that his commitment to this issue is "absolute," highlighting that he is a pioneer in passing laws to control and limit firearms and assured that "if I get a Congress and I am re-elected, we will do it again. "We will make sure we eliminate these weapons."
We passed the first major gun legislation in over 30 years when we passed the law that we recently passed that outlaws weapons that are made that you can’t trace and so on and so forth. And — but it’s not enough. I think we have to do more, and I am absolutely committed. And I’ve asked the Congress, and if I get a Congress and get re-elected, we’re going to do it again. We’re going to make sure we eliminate these weapons.
"Allow legal immigration and prevent illegal immigration"
The president once again reiterated that his position on the border is a far cry from the shutdown being called for by conservatives and a growing number of Democrats affected by the waves of illegal immigrants pouring into their cities and creating an unprecedented economic and social crisis. "The first piece of legislation I introduced as president was related to the border. The first one. "I wanted to make sure that everything from Dreamers having a path to citizenship, to providing enough border security personnel to manage the border in an orderly manner, allowing legal immigration and preventing illegal immigration," he said.
For the president, The real problem is not the avalanche of millions of people trying to access the country, nor the call effect of their policies and statements, but the lack of resources and personnel, of which he directly accuses Republican politicians and Trump, especially due to the failure of the bipartisan bill that failed to pass the Senate:
We're in a situation where, for example, we don't even have enough officers to interview people and discern whether they have a legitimate fear or concern to qualify for entry. We don't have enough people at the border with our Border Patrol personnel. We don't have enough machinery to detect fentanyl and illegal drugs coming in. It's all there. Then what happened? We worked on this with a very conservative Republican from Oklahoma, a senator, he came and joined, and the Democrats on the other hand, and they worked for four months, and they came up with a proposal. I didn't have everything I wanted. I told them I was going to go back and get Dreamers, etc., but what it did do was provide a significant number of personnel to make an orderly transfer and allow legal immigration to increase, not decrease, and reduce illegal immigration. And when... this is literally true, what happened was when Trump found out that I liked it and supported it, and that I was going to get, quote, credit for it, he got on the phone, I'm not kidding, he talked to the Republicans and told them, don't support it, it will benefit Biden. When the hell would you vote on an important piece of legislation based on whether it benefits someone who is in politics? It is good or bad. It was good legislation, and I'm not giving up on it.
In addition, he noted that he is studying the issuing of an executive order to try to "slow down" the arrival of immigrants, given that it is not possible to manage the number of people trying to enter the country:
We’re examining whether or not I have that power. I would have that power under the legislation when the border has over…5,000 people a day trying to cross the border, because you can’t manage it, slow it up. There’s no guarantee that I have that power all by myself without legislation. And some have suggested I should just go ahead and try it, and if I get shut down by the court, I get shut down by the court, but we’re trying to work through that right now.
Biden, in favor of giving money to the countries of origin of immigration as proposed by AMLO
In this sense, he stressed the importance of a good relationship with Mexico and its president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, which he described as a "man of his word," Biden agreed with much of the proposal of the neighboring president about allocating money to immigrants' countries of origin to encourage citizens to stay there, highlighting that it is something he was doing until his funding was cut off. However, he did not even mention the proposal to lift sanctions on Venezuela and Cuba included in AMLO's initiative.
Before Obrador even presented that plan, I started that plan years ago. Look, it's not like people are sitting around a table, a hand-sewn table somewhere in Guatemala, saying, I have a great idea. We're going to sell everything we have, give it to a criminal gang. They will take us to the other side of the border. They will leave us on the other side with a language you don't speak, where people don't want me. Won't it be fun? People don't... leave because they have no alternatives. And so what we're doing is... we did, and it worked for a while until they cut it, is providing the ability to create jobs in the countries where people are leaving. People don't want to leave where they are from. People want to make sure they have the opportunity to make a living, and they would prefer to make a living where they are.
Biden also wanted to highlight his Administration's initiatives to help Hispanics, such as the purchase of medicines, the acquisition of home ownership or the forgiveness of student loans. He also had time to criticize Netanyahu for his management of the ground offensive in Gaza and call for a ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid and insist on the need to send more aid to Ukraine to combat Russia.
