Francis Suarez blasts Joe Biden admin, calls for immigration reform during southern border visit

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez visited the southern border last August to Democratic border policies. He went back in February. Image via Save America PAC.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is ramping up his criticism of President Joe Biden’s immigration policy — and the idea that the United States is home to systemic discrimination.

One need only look at the “chaos and crisis” at the Mexico-Texas line, Suarez said during a series of stops along America’s southern border, for proof both issues need addressing.

“The millions of people — almost all from Latin America — who are desperately trying to come to our country belie the Left’s narrative about America — that we are an unfair, racist, and abusive nation that systematically oppresses racial and ethnic minorities,” he said at a border wall near the Pharr International Bridge.

“However, as attractive and exceptional as our country (is), illegal immigration simply cannot be tolerated. The border crisis we have experienced since early 2021 has undermined confidence in our government, burdened local communities, overwhelmed social service agencies, and demoralized the millions who have been patiently waiting in line to come into our country.”

He added, “Immigration to the U.S. should be legal, orderly and compatible with our economy. It’s time for an American President to clearly communicate this to our citizens and to our neighbors in the Americas — in English — and in Spanish.”

Suarez noted a sharp rise in drug-involved overdose deaths nationwide, an upward trend consistent for decades but one that skyrocketed by 51% since Biden took office, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

He also discussed human trafficking, which has also steadily grown in prevalence through many presidential administrations. In 2022, Department of Homeland Security agencies made 3,655 trafficking-related arrests — up from 2,197 in 2019.

The solution to both problems is to increase its investment in Latin American countries, said Suarez, a Cuban American and the only major Hispanic candidate running for the White House.

Beyond helping to reduce poverty and crime — both key motivators for migrants attempting to illegally cross into the U.S. — Suarez said a collaborative policy with the Americas will also curb China’s influence on the U.S. economy.

He then took a shot at Biden for what many conservatives and Cubans considered a tepid response to the historic July 2021 protests that erupted in Cuba for which hundreds have been imprisoned.

“For decades politicians of both parties have recklessly neglected the Americas while encouraging American companies to move jobs and supply chains to China and … investing billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars in faraway wars,” he said. “However, in July of 2021, when Cubans took to the streets to demand freedom from tyranny and oppression, the Biden administration did not lift a finger to support them.”

In a Fox News interview during the time of the protests, Suarez suggested bombing Cuba was an option “that has to be explored” as one of “a variety of ways” the U.S. could intervene militarily.

Suarez’s stop in Texas was funded by SOS America PAC, which is supporting his campaign for President. The super PAC complained this week that Miami’s Mayor has been unduly excluded from national polls — a particularly egregious slight, the group said, considering he’d just crossed the 40,000 unique donor threshold necessary to make the GOP debate stage Aug. 23.