'I believe in America': Fired-up Biden uses State of the Union to skewer GOP

Biden referenced former President Trump's rhetoric on immigrants in America, without mentioning him by name, during his State of the Union address Thursday.

"I will not demonize immigrants, saying they 'poison the blood of our country,' as he said in his own words," Biden said of Trump.

"I will not separate families. I will not ban people from America because of their faith," Biden continued.

Biden refrenced the The U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, which he introduced during his first day as President.

"Unlike my predecessor, on my first day in office I introduced a comprehensive plan to fix our immigration system, secure the border, and provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and so much more."

In fiscal year 2023, the Biden administration nearly doubled its deportations compared to the year before. Combined with new asylum restrictions, the move was seen as a pivot to the right in an effort to shore up his campaign. Biden had promised to reverse Trump’s immigration policies, including family separation and other efforts that had drawn protests, but an influx of migrants at the southern border has complicated the picture.

Biden’s been pushing a bipartisan border deal in the Senate that would be the biggest change to immigration law in decades, but the House has been reluctant to pass it and Republicans claim it's insufficient despite its scope.

They also have every incentive not to take it up: Immigration remains a big reason that voters disapprove of Biden’s job as president, and they say they trust Trump more on immigration.

Voters do want the federal government to fix the immigration system. A Wall Street Journal poll found that 59% approved of the bipartisan bill when it was described to him.

-Monica Potts, 538

Biden urged Congress to send him a bill that would combine foreign military aid to Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine with stricter border reforms than Democrats have historically supported.

The bill initially had buy-in from top Republicans but was killed in the Senate after former President Donald Trump came out against it. The chamber later passed a bill that included the foreign aid but not the border component, though that bill too is languishing in the House of Representatives.

"Look folks, we have a simple choice. We can fight about fixing the border, or we can fix it. I'm ready to fix it. Send me the border bill now," he said.

The first major interruption of the night came as Biden discussed the border, specifically a bipartisan proposal to enact immigration changes that was tanked by congressional Republicans under pressure from Trump.

"In November, my team began serious negotiations with a bipartisan group of senators. The result was a bipartisan bill with the toughest set of border security reforms we have ever seen," he said.

Republicans in the crowd began to boo.

"Oh, you don't think so? Oh, you don't like that bill, huh? That conservatives got together and said was a good bill? I'll be darned, that's amazing," Biden said sarcastically.

As he began to lay out what the bill would do and its endorsement by the Border Patrol union, he was met with more opposition.

"I know you know how to read," he said.