At a town hall in 2020, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden stated, “Nobody is going to be deported in my first 100 days,” if elected. He was speaking about illegal immigration at the time. However, in a television commercial produced by a super PAC in support of the former president Donald Trump, Joe Biden is heard stating merely “nobody is going to be deported,” which implies erroneously that Biden made a pledge to his administration that no one in the country illegally would be deported.
Original Biden comment
On May 1, the 30-second advertisement from MAGA Inc. aired in Pennsylvania, according to political ad tracking firm AdImpact. Starring in the super PAC’s advertisement is Tony Dokoupil, anchor of “CBS Mornings,” who claims that Biden encouraged asylum seekers to enter the country, something he really did when running for office. However, Biden does not really declare that there would be no deportations if he were president as the advertisement finishes. The same misleadingly shortened Biden remark regarding deportations was used in at least one additional commercial created by the super PAC and published on digital platforms in late March. After a month, Biden explained his clumsily phrased claim that “whether or not you’ve committed a felony while in the country” is the “only rationale for deportation.” In a March 2020 Democratic presidential candidate debate, Biden declared: “No one will be deported at all in the first hundred days of my presidency. After that, the only people who will be deported are those who have committed offenses within the borders of the United States of America.
Media and public reaction
In both instances, Biden clarified that the suggested stop to all deportations was only intended to last for his first 100 days in office, not for the duration of his administration as the altered video in the advertisements would have viewers assume. Furthermore, Biden’s Department of Homeland Security had a policy in place for the first 100 days after he became office that said that certain individuals would still be deported. This was in January 2021.
The 100-day moratorium on deportations of people with final removal orders would not apply to anyone who “has engaged in or is suspected of terrorism or espionage, or otherwise poses a danger” to U.S. national security, according to a memo released on January 20, 2021, by acting DHS Secretary David Pekoske. The pause did not apply to anybody who was not in the United States on November 1, 2020, to those who voluntarily gave up their right to stay in the nation, or to anyone who the acting director of ICE decided needed to be removed in accordance with federal law.
Criticism and consequences
Furthermore, the paper said that “nothing in this memorandum prohibits the apprehension or detention of individuals who are not identified as priorities herein who are in the United States illegally.” Besides, the policy was a one-hit wonder. It was eventually contested in court virtually immediately, and on January 26, 2021, a federal judge in Texas temporarily stopped it for 14 days. On February 24, the same court halted the policy indefinitely.
| Pro-Trump Super PAC Ad Claim | Fact |
| One of Biden’s quotes from the advertisement is, “There will not be another foot of wall constructed in my administration.” | This seems to be an actual statement from Biden criticizing Trump’s border wall building before the 2020 election. |
| The advertisement asserts “The daily chaos at the border is the fault of one man, Joe Biden.” | This assertion is deceptive. Although Biden has taken action to undo some of Trump’s harsh immigration laws, there are several contributing reasons to the complicated situation at the border. |
| In the advertisement, Biden is heard declaring that “nobody is going to be deported.” | This modification of Biden’s original remarks is deceptive. In its entirety, Biden states that he would not deport someone who had not committed a crime. |
Response from Biden camp
In the end, the Biden administration deported hundreds of thousands of immigrants, not simply those with prior convictions for felonies in the United States. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documented 85,783 “removals” in fiscal year 2021, which encompassed over three months under Trump’s presidency. The DHS defines “removals” as “the forced and verified departure of an inadmissible or deportable noncitizen from the United States on the basis of an order of removal.” In fiscal 2022 Biden’s first full fiscal cycle that number rose to 108,733, per the most current DHS “Yearbook of Immigration Statistics.”
