Biden slams Trump's 'racist invective' and says he's subverting US values over immigration

'Trump’s wrongheaded policies are leading us astray at every turn,' former vice president writes

Joe Biden has criticised Donald Trump’s "racist invective" against migrants and described his hardline stance on the issue as “morally bankrupt”.

The former vice president published an article in the Miami Herald just before the Florida city hosts the first round of Democratic presidential debates on Wednesday and Thursday night, writing: “The next president must institute effective immigration reform while restoring regional policies grounded in respect.

“Under Trump, there have been horrifying scenes at the border of kids being kept in cages, tear-gassing asylum seekers, ripping children from their mothers’ arms — actions that subvert American values and erode our ability to lead on the global stage,” Mr Biden wrote. At a time when the challenges we face demand a united, regional response, Trump repeatedly invokes racist invective to describe anyone south of the Rio Grande, including calling migrants ‘animals’.”

He added: “Rather than standing with our partners in the region to take on corruption, transnational criminal groups, climate change and threats to democracy and the rule of law, Trump’s wrongheaded policies are leading us astray at every turn.”

Mr Biden laid out several significant policy proposals, from streamlining and strengthening the US asylum system to restoring aid to countries like El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

His article was published in both the Miami Herald and the Spanish-language El Nuevo Herald, with Mr Biden celebrating the southern city’s diverse communities. Miami features robust Hispanic and Latino populations and is largely Democratic.

Mr Biden called on Congress to pass legislation that recognises members of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme — otherwise known as Dreamers — as US citizens.

He did not, however, directly call for a pathway for citizenship for the nearly 11m undocumented immigrants who do not fall under that programme, only saying they must “be brought out of the shadows through fair treatment, not ugly threats”.

The former vice president has maintained his status as the clear frontrunner in the 2020 Democratic primaries ahead of this week’s debates across national polls.

He has simultaneously used his position as the top Democrat to attack Mr Trump on a variety of issues, from immigration to climate change, further establishing himself in a race seemingly against the president himself rather than Mr Biden’s Democratic opponents.

Mr Trump has hit back at Mr Biden, referring to him as “Sleepy Joe Biden”, lambasting him as a “low IQ individual” while on foreign soil and writing on Twitter last month: "Think about it, I’m only here because of Sleepy Joe and the man who took him off the 1% trash heap, President O!”