Today (December 3), The View‘s panel shared a heated debate over President Joe Biden‘s immigration policy — specifically, his administration supporting a federal judge’s decision to reinstate the Trump-era “Remain-in-Mexico” border policy. The controversial policy requires asylum seekers to stay in that country until their U.S. immigration court date.
“That is the promise of this country,” Sunny Hostin pointed out, noting that when refugees arrive in the United States, they have a right to legal asylum. “[Biden] did break all his campaign promises. And now, Joe Biden is basically breaking the law. His administration is breaking the law.”
Before that, guest host America Ferrera noted a March, 2020 tweet in which Biden called the legislation “dangerous, inhumane, and… against everything we stand for as a nation of immigrants.”
The Biden administration overturned the “Remain-in-Mexico” policy during the president’s first day in office. Ferrera was disturbed that he not only went along with the judge’s decision to reinstate it — he also actively chose to expand it.
“He’s actually including more people, particularly Haitians and Jamaicans, in this new implementation,” she continued. “Not only is this a broken campaign promise, this is an incredible disappointment that will put tens of thousands of people in real danger.”
Meanwhile, guest host Ana Navarro argued that the Biden administration’s decision “wasn’t black and white.” She noted that she and Hostin have a personal connection to this issue — Hostin was born in Honduras and her husband is from Haiti, while Navarro was born in Nicaragua.
“There are over 50 million people between Haiti and Central America. We have to somehow figure out how to give these people opportunities, and how to help them in those countries,” Navarro said, adding that the Biden administration has given $860 million in aid to Central America. “We have to figure out how to process asylum in those countries in a reasonable way, so people don’t make the dangerous trek.”
Hostin pushed back against Navarro, saying, “When people come to this country, you don’t send them back to a country where they are going to be persecuted, where they are going to be harmed, where they are going to possibly be killed.”
She also brought up the racial component of immigration discourse. “It’s very interesting to me that Melania [Trump] is such a genius that she was able to get into the country from Slovenia and bring her family,” Hostin continued. “If you look like you’re from Slovenia, it’s perfectly okay for you to get here, and chain migration is perfectly okay. But it’s not okay if you’re a Haitian immigrant, or if you’re from Central America.”
Ultimately, Joy Behar summed the debate up: “It’s kind of ironic that people are now seeking to come to a democracy, and we are eroding democracy.”
The View airs weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.
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