Immigration politics exploded to the front-burner of the Democratic primary process tonight as presidential hopefuls blasted President Trump in the wake of the deaths of a Salvadoran man and his two-year-old daughter, drowned trying to cross the Rio Grande.
‘It’s heartbreaking. It should also piss us all off,’ said former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro during the first primary debate of the 2020 election season.
Castro called for a change in federal law that would no longer ‘criminalize desperation’ by reclassifying border-jumping as a civil infraction instead of a crime.
The candidates responded to a photo of Salvadoran migrant Oscar Alberto Martinez and his two-year-old daughter Valerie, who drowned while crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico to the US on Sunday.
Ohio Rep Tim Ryan blasted the Trump administration for presiding over a longstanding but deteriorating system that houses children separately from the adults who bring them into the US.
‘What kind of a country are we running here?’ he asked, claiming that ‘we’ve got kids literally laying in their own snot with three-week-old diapers that haven’t been changed’.
But illegal immigrants and asylum-seekers drove much of the fireworks.
New Jersey Sen Corey Booker said he would ‘reinstate pathways to citizenship for DACA recipients’ and pull back ICE agents from ‘creating fear in cities all across this country.’
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio framed America’s immigration crisis as a plank in his socialist-leaning platform.
‘For all the American citizens out there who feel you’re falling behind, who feel the American dream’s not working for you, the immigrants didn’t do that to you,’ he lectured.
‘The big corporations did that to you. The “One Percent” did that to you.’
The Democratic party held the first half of its first debate Wednesday night in Miami, Florida. Pictured are 2020 presidential candidates Bill de Blasio, Tim Ryan, Julian Castro, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Beto O’Rourke, Amy Klobuchar, Tulsi Gabbard, Jay Inslee and John Delaney.
Democrats leapt on Donald Trump’s economy, arguing they have stronger plans despite 71 percent of Americans saying they like the nation’s economic position.
‘Not everyone is sharing in this prosperity, and Donald Trump just sits in the White House and gloats about what’s going on when you have so many people that are having trouble affording college and affording their premiums,’ Minnesota Sen Amy Klobuchar said.
Reminded that 60 percent of Democrats approve of the economy, Massachusetts Sen Elizabeth Warren snapped: ‘Who is this economy really working for?’
‘It’s doing great for a thinner and thinner slice at the top,’ she said, contrasting drug companies with patients and oil companies with Americans who consider climate change a top worry.
‘It’s corruption, plain and simple,’ she said.
Beto O’Rourke used his first opportunity at the microphone to deliver a message in Spanish, befuddling most of his competitors and a majority of the television audience.
By shifting languages, he managed to avoid answering a question about how high the nation’s top income tax rates should rise.
Tonight’s political tableau ranged from former Maryland Rep John Delaney’s call for a doubling of the Earned Income Tax Credit to de Blasio’s more naked socialist overtures.
‘There’s plenty of money in this country. It’s just in the wrong hands,’ de Blasio intoned from the edge of the stage where his anemic poll numbers relegated him.
De Blasio and Warren were the only two on Wednesday who raised their hands to signify that they would outlaw private medical insurance as president.
‘I’m with Bernie on Medicare For All,’ Warren said, complaining that insurers maximize profits at the expense of patient care.
‘Health care is a basic human right,’ she said.
Moments later Klobuchar’s campaign blasted reporters with an email about a ‘plan for universal health care’ that relies on a Medicare and Medicaid expansion.
O’Rourke insisted union workers who negotiated health plans should be able to keep them. ‘Choice is fundamental,’ he said.
De Blasio responded in the night’s first one-on-one fireworks.
‘Private insurance is not working for tens of millions of Americans. When you talk about the copays, the deductibles, the premiums, the out-of-pocket expenses, it’s not working!’ he barked.
Former Vice President and front-runner Joe Biden, a looming presence despite not being on stage, tweeted that he has no intention of eliminating private insurance.
‘Let’s be clear: We shouldn’t tear the Affordable Care Act down. We should build on it,’ his campaign wrote.
TV viewers were enraged by technical glitches that drove the NBC broadcast to premature commercial breaks as microphones in the control room were switched on while moderators asked questions about gun control.
President Trump, soaring above the Arctic Circle aboard Air Force One, couldn’t resist stabbing at one of the TV networks he loves to hate.
.@NBCNews and @MSNBC should be ashamed of themselves for having such a horrible technical breakdown in the middle of the debate. Truly unprofessional and only worthy of a FAKE NEWS Organization, which they are!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2019
The first debate often felt like the warmup act for the major contenders.
Thursday night’s contingent will be led by Biden and Vermont Sen Bernie Sanders.
NBC chose the two groups at random from among the 20 who met its polling and fundraising qualifications.
The full roster of candidates on Wednesday included Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, former Maryland Rep. John Delaney and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.