NDLON Response to President Biden’s Remarks on Border Security & Enforcement

(Los Angeles, CA) Ahead of a scheduled visit to the US border and a meeting in Mexico with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, President Biden announced plans to expand the Trump-era Title 42 policy and the use of expedited removal of Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Cuban, and Haitian migrants at the US-Mexico border.

In response to the Biden Administration’s first remarks on immigration and border security of 2023, NDLON Co-Executive Director Pablo Alvarado issued the following statement:

“We were hopeful President Biden’s remarks would give us inspiration, encouragement, and above all, a change in direction after over a decade of nativist descent which has imperiled immigrant rights and divided the country. We wanted to hear President Biden live up to his promises. We wanted him to fulfill his legal and moral obligations- both to those migrants seeking to come to the US *and to the millions of undocumented immigrants systematically deprived of equal rights who are already living, working, and dying here.

“But instead of bold, courageous, and straightforward leadership from the President, we heard insincere rhetoric and an illegible policy which ironically reflects a bipartisan consensus where immigrant labor is accepted while our humanity is denied. Indeed, we heard a warmed-over rendition of Republican talking points, equating the border with chaos and criminality, complaining about the lack of an orderly process, and placing the burden of solving America’s warped immigration priorities on desperate migrants themselves. The same old song had a new line for refugees and asylum seekers: ‘Get the app, and get in line.’

“What we didn’t hear was a single word directed to an entire generation of undocumented immigrant families deserving of equal rights. Not one word. Not one ounce of political capital. Nothing for those who want the same shot at citizenship afforded to his own family.

“Now he heads to El Paso, a further capitulation to the same lunatics currently holding the US Congress hostage. How far we have fallen from his commitment to just, humane immigration policies. President Biden needs to wipe clean President Obama’s failure, President Trump’s ugly words and deeds, and his own lackluster start. Immigration policy needs a reset, and President Biden is the only person who can hit the button. We’re waiting.”’

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