Biden’s recent actions on immigration were a trap, and it looks like the ex-president took the bait.
But in issuing a new policy granting legal protections to undocumented spouses and children of American citizens, the president was trying to lure Donald Trump into a very specific debate, too.
Inside Bidenâs team, advisers are betting that the new policies, unveiled at the White House on Tuesday, will reignite a larger conversation about one of the most controversial chapters of the Trump era: the separation of families on the southern border.
Biden knew that he would be asked about immigration at the upcoming presidential debate, so instead of ceding the issue to Trump, or contesting it on the ex-president’s terms, the President is going after the least popular parts of Trump’s immigration ideas.
President Biden is going to talk about the importance of keeping families together after Trump tore them apart. Trump wants to deport legal immigrants. Biden wants to secure the border, but also keep families together and uphold American values.
Biden’s recent immigration orders fit in with the idea that it is the Democratic Party that is trying to protect families while Republicans weigh radical steps like attacking same-sex rights and banning IVF.
Trump sees immigrants as criminals.
Biden sees their humanity.
Joe Biden has set Trump up for immigration conversation to go to places that the felon ex-president doesn’t want to discuss, and in the process, he could turn Trump’s favorite issue into a Republican weakness.
