Summary List PlacementRep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right Georgia Republican who has embraced conspiracy theories, falsely accused undocumented immigrants of hosting “big barbacoas” on the border to celebrate President Joe Biden.
“Hey @JoeBiden, all those illegals you are welcoming in our country are having big barbacoas right now at our border,” she tweeted on Thursday night. “They aren’t waiting until July 4th like you want legal American taxpayers to do, if they get the vaccine. You also forgot to thank President Trump for the shot!”
Republican lawmakers have focused their messaging on the recent surge in migrants crossing the US-Mexico border, returning to former President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant playbook. They’re attempting to raise alarm about “super-spreader caravans” of immigrants in much the same way that Trump wildly exaggerated the threat of violent “caravans” of criminals looking to invade the country.
And they’re blaming Biden’s reversal of Trump’s harsh anti-immigrant policies for the influx in unaccompanied migrant children who’ve crossed the border in recent weeks. Thousands of migrant children have been detained under Biden’s new administration and the surge is causing delays in transferring the kids from federal facilities meant for adults to Department of Health and Human Services shelters.
The Biden administration is loosening Trump’s restrictions on refugees and asylum seekers, expanding family-based immigration, creating a pathway to citizenship and permanent residence for millions of undocumented foreign workers, and reducing mass deportations. Biden has also reversed Trump’s “remain in Mexico” policy, which barred refugees and asylum seekers from staying in the US while their claims are processed and forced thousands into dangerous and squalid camps in Mexico.
White House chief of staff Ron Klain said recently that the Biden administration “inherited a real mess” on the border and seeks to implement a more “humane” set of policies to deal with it.
Biden pledged during a national address on Thursday night to make COVID-19 vaccines available to all adult Americans by May 1. And he said he expects the country to return to something resembling normal life by July 4, when he’ll encourage small family gatherings.
“July 4th with your loved ones is the goal,” the president said.
While Greene claimed that undocumented immigrants aren’t “waiting until July 4th” to gather, she and other Republican lawmakers have aggressively resisted and undermined federal health officials’ guidelines on gatherings, mask-wearing, social distancing, and other COVID-19 mitigation practices. Greene has called masks “oppressive” and long called for states to fully reopen. She’s held her own gatherings, including her election victory party and town halls, with little regard for virus safety measures. SEE ALSO: Republican leader Kevin McCarthy says voters overwhelmingly support Biden’s stimulus bill because they don’t understand it
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