On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) stated that “the Biden administration demonstrated incompetence in managing the migrant crisis,” President Joe Biden “had the unilateral ability to issue an executive order restricting migration at the border, and he waited two-and-a-half years,” because the order “was unpopular among far-left elites who have outsized power over the policymaking and messaging of the Democratic Party.”
Torres said, “[O]n the subject of immigration, there was genuine political malpractice. Since 2022, there has been an unprecedented wave of migration, whose impact was felt, not only at the border, but in cities like New York, where the shelter system and our municipal finances were completely overwhelmed. … Despite clear signs of popular discontent, it took the Biden administration two-and-a-half years to issue an executive order restricting migration at the border, and by then it was too late. The Republicans had won the issue, had weaponized it against us. And when the President issued the executive order, polling revealed that it was popular among the American people, among people from every racial category, blacks and whites, Latinos and Asians. So, if it was effective at reducing migration at the border and if it was popular among the American people, why did it take two-and-a-half years to issue the executive order? Because it was unpopular among far-left elites who have outsized power over the policymaking and messaging of the Democratic Party. And therein lies the problem.”
Torres also stated that inflation was also an issue, but that was a global issue and the Biden administration was harmed by circumstances.
Later, Torres said, “Well, if you remove inflation and immigration from the table, we win the election, because Donald Trump’s net favorability has been chronically underwater. So, regardless of disinformation, we would have won the election were it not for structural causes like inflation, and the migrant crisis.” And that Republicans aren’t actually interested in solving the immigration problem, but the president’s party is held responsible and “when the Biden administration demonstrated incompetence in managing the migrant crisis, the American people punished the Democratic nominee in the 2024 election.”
Torres further stated, “Look, you have to level with the American people, right? The American people are not stupid. You cannot gaslight them. People know the reality on the ground. People know their own lived experience. And the Republicans, again, have been acting in bad faith and did sabotage a bipartisan border security compromise and should be held accountable, but the President had the unilateral ability to issue an executive order restricting migration at the border, and he waited two-and-a-half years, and that, to me, is political malpractice, and we should be honest about it.”
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