Biden’s Obama ties could turn off Latino voters

WASHINGTON — Joe Biden’s tenure as Barack Obama’s vice president is complicating his efforts to deepen ties with Latinos who could be critical to winning the White House.

For many Latinos, Biden’s embrace of the Obama years is a frightening reminder of when the former president ejected about 3 million people living in the U.S. illegally, earning him the moniker of “deporter in chief.”

That’s one reason Latinos overwhelmingly backed Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary. But with the Vermont senator out of the race and Biden left as the presumptive Democratic nominee, Latinos face an agonizing choice. They could look past Biden’s resume and vote for him or sit out the election and risk another four years of President Trump, who escalated his hardline stance this week with an executive order freezing some immigration into the U.S. during the coronavirus pandemic.

“The ‘Let’s go back to how things were’ for people who feel like they have a boot on their neck, it’s not always that compelling,” said Marisa Franco, director and cofounder of the Latino activist group Mijente, which made its first endorsement when it backed Sanders for president.

The record number of deportations under Obama came as his administration sought to show it was serious about enforcement while waiting for Congress to approve an overhaul to the immigration system. But in the process, it deported a large percentage of people without criminal records, even while publicly saying its priority was removing criminals from the country.

Obama eventually gave up on Congress and changed tactics, extending temporary legal protections to young immigrants through Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.