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| EFE |
The President of the United States, Joe Biden, distanced himself this Thursday from his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, emphasizing that he will not demonize migrants or separate families.
"This is what I will not do. I will not demonize migrants by saying they poison the blood of our country, as he himself said. I will not separate families. I will not ban people from entering the United States because of their faith," he stated in his State of the Union address.
Biden thus reiterated the need for Congress to push forward a bipartisan legislative agreement that, he affirmed, will provide relief to the immigration system, despite humanitarian organizations reproaching that it imposes greater restrictions on the country's southern border in exchange for a new economic aid package for Ukraine.
"This is America. We all come from somewhere, but we are all Americans. We can fight over the border or we can fix it. I am prepared to fix it. Pass the border law now!" he urged the congressmen.
The bipartisan agreement sank in the Senate due to the opposition of the Republicans, pushed by Trump and his public rejection of that pact, and since then Biden's calls for both sides to unite and unblock it have been constant.
Biden turned his State of the Union address into a lively argument to try to achieve re-election.
His speech from the rostrum of the House of Representatives, delivered just eight months before the general elections, unfolded like a job interview for the oldest president in the country's history, who tries to calm voters' concerns about his age and job performance, and mark a contrast with his almost certain rival in November.
Raising his voice, he launched a diatribe against his predecessor for not defending American allies abroad and for embracing anti-democratic concepts in the United States.
"Freedom and democracy are being attacked, both at home and abroad, at this very moment," said Biden, while calling on Congress to lend its support to Ukraine to defend itself from the invasion of Russia. "History is watching us."
Biden quickly focused on threats within the country, mentioning the attack on January 6, 2021 against the Capitol by Trump supporters seeking to reverse the results of the 2020 elections, and calling for a fight against threats to democracy.
"My predecessor, and some of those present here, are trying to bury the truth about January 6. I will not do that," he said. "This is a time to speak the truth and bury the lies. Here I have a simple truth for you. You can't love your country only when you win."