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Joe Biden says we are “in the midst of an all-out assault on immigrants” — and he wants America to do better.
You can watch the whole episode here.
The first episode of Joe Biden’s new IGTV series, ‘Here’s the Deal with Joe Biden,’ deals with what Biden is calling America’s “broken” immigration system and sets out — in very general terms – Biden’s ideas of how to fix the problem.
Biden Called Out the Trump Administration for ‘Putting Children in Cages’ at the Border
Not surprisingly, Biden is upset at the Trump administration’s treatment of immigrants at the US-Mexico border. The former vice president says that the US immigration system does need to be reformed; any nation needs to police and control its borders.
But, Biden says, separating children from their parents, and locking them up in detention centers, is going much, much too far. That, Biden says, is an attack on the “American tradition” of welcoming immigrants with open arms. Biden argues that America is a great nation in part because the best and the brightest people from around the world — those with the most strength and determination — leave their countries and come to America. Albert Einstein was an immigrant, points out Biden. So was the co-founder of Google, Sergey Brin.
Biden’s Show Feels a Lot Like a Campaign Ad
When Biden launched his new show on IGTV, he said he wanted to talk about the issues facing the American people. And yet, the show feels a lot like a campaign ad for Joe Biden. A good half of the episode is about Biden himself; his family, the work he did as vice president, and his relationship with Barack Obama. Is this a sign that Biden really is gearing up to run for president in 2020?
Biden talks about his own great-grandfather Owen Finnegan, an Irish shoemaker who left home in 1844 and traveled by ship to America. At almost the same time, Barack Obama’s great grandfather, another Irish ship maker, boarded another ship which took him form Ireland to America. Looking straight at the camera, Biden says, “In all of their dreams, do you ever think they thought the day would come ,160 years later that 2 great grandsons of shoemakers from Ireland would be sworn in as president and vice president of the United States of America?”
Is Biden hinting that he’d like to be president himself one day?
Biden Details What He Did to Fix Immigration When He Was Vice President
Biden doesn’t just complain about the Trump administration; he also wants to tell Americans what he and Obama did right. He says that as vice president, he led an initiative to try and improve living conditions in Central American countries El Salvador and Honduras which, traditionally, send a lot of immigrants to the US.
Biden’s plan was to improve the economies of those countries while also reducing crime and corruption rates, so that people would be able to prosper in their own countries, instead of leaving to start a better life in America.
Biden Chides Trump for Trying to Change Americans’ ‘Core Values’ — and Even Quotes Ronald Reagan
Biden, a life-long Democrat, didn’t hesitate to quote Ronald Reagan in this episode. He said, “America still represents the best of the world, the shining city on the hill” which can act as a beacon of light to the rest of the world.
Americans have “core values” of generosity and kindness that cannot be changed and that won’t be forgotten, Biden says. In a seeming jab at the Trump administration, Biden says, “not even the president can change who we are as Americans and what we stand for, our core values.We must remind this administration of our core values.”
Biden’s IGTV show will air in weekly episodes, each about 5 to 10 minutes long. So far, there are ten episodes planned, all to air on Wednesdays.