President Joe Biden said he won’t “demonize immigrants” during the first of two campaign stops in Dallas on Wednesday night as Donald Trump, his GOP opponent for president, blames him for the chaos at the southern border.
“Unlike Trump, I’m not going to demonize immigrants,” Biden said to cheers of “Four more years!” from supporters in the Lone Star State. “The problem isn’t just going back to where Trump had the country. It’s where he wants to take us now.”
“Look to what he’s saying,” he continued. “I hope we’re all going to take it seriously. He means what he says. As crazy as it sounds, he means what he says.”
Biden also accused Trump of wanting to “do away with NATO” and of downplaying COVID-19 and said Trump would pardon those involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“Our standing in the world is the greatest threat” Trump poses to democracy, Biden added.
His comments come in a state that has become the political epicenter of the border crisis.
Texas officials and Biden’s Department of Justice are sparring over whether the state can temporarily enforce a law that permits law enforcement to arrest and detain people they suspect of illegally entering the country, a controversy the former president addressed earlier in the day.
“When I am president, instead of trying to send the state of Texas a restraining order, I will send them reinforcements,” Trump said. “And I’ll use all necessary military and law enforcement resources to defend the United States of America.”
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, appeared on Fox News to fault Biden for skipping the border during his Texas stopover.
“He hasn’t really been down to the border since he’s gotten elected,” McCaul said. “He went down one time for a photo op, and that doesn’t really constitute [a visit]. And [Vice President] Kamala Harris, the border czar, hasn’t been down there at all. I think it’s really offensive to people in my state, particularly those who live on the border who deal with this problem day in and day out.”
Biden has visited the southern border twice since taking office, most recently on Feb. 29, when he stopped at the border city of Brownsville, though both visits were brief.
He tried to flip the script on the issue during the fundraiser, saying Trump contributes to immigration chaos. He has repeatedly blamed the former president for helping tank a bipartisan border deal negotiated between the White House and Senate.
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“Trump didn’t just bring chaos to Americans,” Biden said. “He also brought chaos to the American border.”
Organizers claimed the first fundraiser, held at the home of prominent trial lawyer Russell Budd, pulled in $2.5 million.
