White House senior advisor Stephen Miller claimed Saturday that Joe Biden's "catch and release" immigration plan will lead to "millions of illegal immigrants" taking over the state of Arizona in a matter of months.
Miller railed against Biden's Thursday vow during the second presidential debate to craft legislation within the first 100 days of his presidency that will create pathways to citizenship for 11 million undocumented people living in the United States. Miller said Biden's plan to help the so-called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or "Dreamer" kids makes clear that his presidency will give "priority to illegal aliens" over Americans.
The architect behind much of Trump's border and immigration actions, Miller warned voters in Minnesota and Arizona that Biden will turn their states into "refugee camps."
Miller reiterated on Fox News Saturday that immigration is a key issue that drives independent and swing state voters to the polls on Election Day—something he believes will hurt Biden following his vow to open citizenship up to millions of children currently living in the U.S. illegally. The Trump administration is currently receiving criticism for ordering U.S. law enforcement to wrench more than 500 children from their families with no semblance of a plan on how to one day reunite them.
"If you implemented Joe Biden's catch-and-release plan in Arizona, that state will be overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands, millions of illegal immigrants because they get apprehended, they get issued a court date and they get released. These are issues that are going to cost Joe Biden states," Miller said of Biden's plan to offer citizenship paths to DACA.
He added that Biden's endorsement of a so-called catch-and-release border policy will allow millions of undocumented migrants to hide out in America and soak up social welfare programs. "Biden's plan will bankrupt Medicare, that will bankrupt Social Security, it will bankrupt your hospitals, that's his priority. Joe Biden is saying his priority is illegal aliens," Miller claimed.
The official also told the Associated Press Saturday that if Trump wins a second term, he will use agreements with Central American governments to help convince countries around the world to take in asylum claims from the millions who seek refuge in the U.S. each year.
"[Trump's immigration policies will help stop] asylum fraud, asylum shopping and asylum abuse on a global scale," Miller told the AP.
The longtime White House senior adviser said Biden has a plan to "increase refugees 700 percent," which immigration activist groups have said is an exaggerated figure. Miller went on to claim Biden's immigration policies will effectively turn the entire state of Minnesota "into a refugee camp."
Trump himself first floated the baseless "refugee camp" claim during a September campaign rally in which he directed chants against Minnesota Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. A Trump 2020 campaign ad was recently pulled from Facebook for repeating the same line without corroborating facts. During the same rally in Minnesota, the president cautioned his supporters that illegal immigrants were bring COVID-19 into the country.
"And all of those so-called dreamers, those DACA kids, they're going to be immediately certified again to be able to stay in this country and put on a path to citizenship," Biden said during the Thursday debate. He conceded "it took long to get it right" over criticism that highlighted slow action on immigration during the Obama administration years.
Biden and Trump sparred in the debate over policies that have separated hundreds of young migrant children from their families. Trump responded by asking Biden: "Who made the cages, Joe?"
Newsweek reached out to the White House for any additional remarks Saturday afternoon.
