(Joshua Paladino, Headline USA) In a meeting with Colombian President Iván Duque Márquez, President Joe Biden stated that American “values” require the United States to “dramatically expand” legal immigration and refugee resettlement.
Biden also announced that an upcoming “declaration” would outline America’s efforts to end the illegal immigration crisis at the southern border with Mexico, Breitbart reported.
“It needs to dramatically expand access to resettlement and other legal pathways to migration,” he said, referring to the declaration.
He hopes to sign the declaration at the “Summit of the Americas” meetings, which are scheduled for June and will be located in Los Angeles.
Biden said he thinks that a legal, open-border immigration policy will uphold America’s values, as well as the interests of immigrants.
“That’s the best way in my view for us to live up to our collective values, to welcome immigrants and refugees, keep migrants safe and secure [in] all our countries,” he said.
He promised that the declaration would require law enforcement to “aggressively pursue” criminals and smugglers, who have flourished under Biden’s open-border policies.
Neither Biden nor the White House said whether the declaration will be a treaty, a proposed law, or a non-binding ideological statement.
The declaration does signal that Biden has no interest in stemming the immigration into America’s southwest border.
At the meeting, Biden thanked Colombia for “hosting the lions’ share” of refugees in South America. He also recognized Colombia as a “major non-NATO ally.”
“Our hemisphere migration challenges cannot be solved by one nation or any one border. We have to work together,” Biden said.
He said the immigration declaration must come from a “collective” effort, even though other countries solve their immigration problems on a unilateral basis.
“It’s an obligation for all of us,” he said.
