Did Biden miss the window on immigration?

How race and identity are shaping politics, policy and power.

Oct 07, 2022 View in browser   By Brakkton Booker With help from Andrew Howard, Rishika Dugyala and Teresa Wiltz POLITICO illustration/Photo by Sipa via AP Images What up, Recast family! Christian Walker's social media tirade upends his father's Senate campaign in Georgia, President Biden pardons U.S. citizens convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal law. Plus, Republican Ted Budd and Democrat Cheri Beasley faceoff Friday night in the only scheduled debate for the open North Carolina Senate seat. First a conversation with an activist rattling the status quo of Latino politics. Maintaining an edge is critical to Marisa Franco's drive as an activist. The Arizona native is the co-founder and executive director of Mijente. The group's name is a nod to the translation of "my people" in Spanish. It launched in 2015 galvanized by the push to oust controversial immigration hardliner Joe Arpaio, the longtime Maricopa County Sheriff. That effort was successful. Arpaio lost his reelection bid in 2016, but that of course ushered in "America First" nationalism that coincided with a litany of anti-immigrant policies central to the Trump administration. While Franco, who is Chicana, acknowledges President Joe Biden has done away with "the top line, most egregious" politics of the previous administration including the canceling border wall contracts, she says the optimism for how far he's willing to go on immigration has all but evaporated. "I think they missed the window," Franco tells me. She praises Biden's handling of the hurricane relief efforts on Puerto Rico, the island territory she refers to as a "colony" of the United States. This week the president toured the devastation caused by Hurricane Fiona, which struck the island in mid-September, promising tens of millions of dollars in aid to the island. Photo by Fernando Lopez courtesy of Mijente During his visit, Biden played the role of compassionate commander in chief, a stark contrast to his predecessor's approach after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island five years ago. Still, Franco says she wants more deliverables than a well-executed photo op and questions whether there are safeguards in place to make sure this new round of aid gets to the people who need it the most. We chop it up about Puerto Rico, why Democrats have a lot of work to attract Latino voters and why more activists need to seek elective office. (No, she's not running.) ◆◆◆ This interview has been edited for length and clarity. THE RECAST: President Biden this week visited Puerto Rico where he pledged some $60 million to, in part, help create a new flood warning system for future storms on the island. This comes about two weeks after Hurricane Fiona battered the island. Your thoughts about his pledges to help residents there? FRANCO: The intention to contrast from Trump's reaction, I think, is duly noted by people. At the end of the day, the devil's in the details. There are significant issues with corruption and that is very apparent with the infrastructure that is being built after Hurricane Maria. I think that there's also a need to look at Puerto Rico's political situation. The country can't fundamentally pick itself up if the relief funds that do arrive are being pocketed by corrupt politicians. THE RECAST: You are referring to Puerto Rico as a "country." Do you actually consider Puerto Rico to be its own sovereign nation independent of the U.S.? FRANCO: Well, I think the third point – that the island is a colony of the United States. I think people's experience — they don't feel like they're a part of the United States — so yes, it's a colony. Overall, I'm sure people were thankful to see some attention being given to their plight. But I think that what I hear is that people are very concerned about relief funds being used equitably and responsibly — and that has not been the case on the island.   Every week, we sit down with diverse and influential characters who are shaking up politics. Who should we profile next? Let us know. Email us at therecast@politico.com.   THE RECAST: The last time we spoke was right around Biden's first address to Congress. You were very critical of the Biden administration delivering on immigration promises that he ran on and felt like his administration had already come up short on immigration policies he promised to enact. How do you see his record on immigration now? FRANCO: I think they missed the window. The Trump administration dedicated themselves throughout the entirety of the federal government to find all the ways that they could shut the door on immigrants in this country. And the Biden administration, I think, maybe undid the top line, most egregious Trump executive orders, but other than that has really fallen short. THE RECAST: OK, talk to me about why you created Mijente. My understanding is it's built as a political organization that does not have ties to either political party. FRANCO: Yeah, we started Mijente because we saw a huge gap. On the one hand a lot is talked about the growing Latinx population, one of the fastest growing in the country, the youngest demographic. I'm from Arizona. I think in many ways, the politics of Arizona around immigration, at first, were seen as an anomaly. But for us, it was actually a foreshadowing of the policies and messages that we'd be seeing in the country. With the rise of Donald Trump in 2015 and 2016, we really sort of viewed the politics of Arpaio that had been at the local level were spreading. And if you look at the history of this country, racial, economic justice, you know other advances — even if it's inches — are met with significant backlash. So with Mijente, we're looking at a community that's growing quickly, has very little infrastructure at the local and national level and we were feeling like we were going to [see] more and more attacks on our community, but also other low-income communities of color. Photo courtesy of Mijente THE RECAST: You mention the former Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio who became nationally known for enforcing SB 1070 , the state's "show me your papers" immigration law. Was that fight your first foray into activism? FRANCO: So that SB 1070 fight was where a lot of the folks that created Mijente first started doing political work together. So that was several years of really being kind of at the frontlines of the fight against deportations. Prior to the Trump presidency, there had been a lot of talk about the Republican post-mortem document and about the need to start making pitches to communities of color. There was one faction which I call the "assimilation" faction and the "annihilation" faction. And we are now in a phase when the annihilation faction of the party has proved to be dominant through the politics of Trump. [It's not true] that demographics is destiny, that Latinos — the largest racial and ethnic minority bloc in the country — will just naturally contribute to progressive-leaning agenda. It's going to take work. It's going to take organizing. And when we look at this year's midterms, I think there's a lot of work for the Democrats to do as well. Photo courtesy of Mijente THE RECAST: I can point to areas in Texas where we're seeing a shift in Latino voting patterns , and seeing the Republican Party fielding a handful of diverse candidates in what could be a banner year for the GOP electing Latinas to office. What are you seeing? FRANCO: Polls are notoriously unreliable when it comes to Latinos. I think by and large the vast majority of Latinos are still inline with a Democratic Party agenda. There are pockets where we are seeing shifts, and I think that you name some of those places in Texas that have been voting Democrat for decades. And some of those colonias don't have clean water, they don't have basic services and people there are asking: "What have you done for me lately?" I guess we have to start from this place: The Democrats have to hold what they have, which is a majority of the electorate and they need to have that electorate be excited and motivated. So they have to keep it and expand it. That's a heavier lift than what Republicans have to do … They know they only have to peel off a certain amount. So when we're talking about this, I think it's important not to be like the sky is falling, but acknowledge some really important political shifts are happening. THE RECAST: You're saying that Democrats have not done a great job energizing the base base. What is it that the party needs to do? FRANCO: What I mean by that is, it's not enough to motivate communities to take political action, based off the bad things that the Republican Party is doing or what Trump happened to say. That's not enough. It's actually about, how are you delivering? How are you promoting that to all communities and making that message accessible? They can't rely on this bad Supreme Court decision or that comment being the thing that's going to motivate. It might motivate a white suburban mom who might get agitated and that's going to make her rally the troops. I'm sure that's going to be the same for a person working two jobs and trying to support their family. If elected officials of political parties want people to go the extra mile … then we damn well need to make the road and make it easy for them to walk it. THE RECAST: Let's switch gears and talk Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida. These Republicans have been sending migrants to liberal enclaves sort of to thumb their nose at the Biden administration. Do you think the Biden administration's response has been adequate? FRANCO: Biden is this President of the United States, he shouldn't have to stoop to their level. But he does have the power to do more stuff, and he needs to do it. Evan Vucci/AP Photo THE RECAST: Do you see a need to have more activists turn their activism into elected power? Or do you feel folks lose their edge once they're in office? FRANCO: I look at it like it's an ecosystem. Different people have to play different roles. And one of the things that can happen for groups on the outside, is if you win this policy, then there's all of this work for how that policy gets implemented. And our [Latino activist] movement has not had really good infrastructure for that side of things: having people inside of government who understand how government works, who can be advocates inside. THE RECAST: Have you given any thought about running for office yourself? FRANCO: Seriously, no, I haven't. I think at my core, I'm a strategist. ◆◆◆ Ok fam! Before we head off for a long weekend, we want to give a shout out to our very own Teresa Wiltz who this week got promoted to Deputy Editor of Politico Magazine! Congrats!!! OK now to some quick pop news items and pop culture pick-me-ups! Biden's Weed Pardons — President Joe Biden, fulfilling a campaign promised, on Thursday granted pardons for all U.S. citizens convicted of simple cannabis possession under federal law. POLITICO's Eugene Daniels and Natalie Fertig write that this action"amounts to the most extensive White House action taken to date on U.S. drug policy." WATCH: Herschel Walker's abortion evolution Follow the Money — The one and only scheduled debate in the North Carolina Senate contest takes place Friday. This comes as POLITICO's Marianne LeVine reports that while polls show Democrat Cheri Beasley has pulled within a statistical tie of Republican Ted Budd, Democrats are not making this race a top priority. Democratic Senate Candidate Cheri Beasley speaks to organized labor groups at Saint Paul Baptist Church on Sept. 17, 2022 in Charlotte, N.C. | Sean Rayford/Getty Images "Amsterdam," a screwball period mystery directed by David O. Russell and starring Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and John David Washington (son of Denzel) is out today. Hasan Minhaj is back on Netflix, this time with a comedy special, "The King's Jester."  YouTube Argentine-born Colombian-Canadian singer Tei Shei has a "Bad Premonition." In this mini-documentary, "The Ritual to Beauty," directed by Shenny De Los Angeles and Maria Marrone, a family of Dominican American women unpack the fraught history of race and hair. Santigold is back and rocking it out after a long hiatus in "Fall First." YouTube TikTok of the Day: How we all feel when the Great British Bakeoff does Mexican week. TikTok   Follow us on Twitter Brakkton Booker @brakktonbooker Rishika Dugyala @rishikadugyala Teresa Wiltz @teresawiltz Jesús Rodríguez @jesusrodriguezb Jesse Naranjo @jesselnaranjo   Follow us

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