President Biden sat down for an interview with Univision’s Enrique Acevedo to discuss his record on delivering for Latinos and American working families, his plans to continue fighting for Latinos in a second term, and the threats Donald Trump poses if elected to a second term.
The following is a statement from Biden-Harris 2024 Director of Hispanic Media Maca Casado:
“President Biden knows the power of the Latino vote, the importance of meeting our community where we are, and talking directly to us about the stakes of this election. As the President discussed in his interview – Latinos have a fighter in him. A leader who knows that being president is about fighting for our families, for our jobs, and for our freedom. Only President Biden is that type of leader, and unlike Trump, he and our campaign are showing up every single day to earn the support of the Latino community.”
Read Excerpts from President Biden’s Interview Below
On protecting our democracy:
PRESIDENT BIDEN: “Donald Trump. Seriously. Donald Trump talks using phrases like we’re going to eviscerate the Constitution. He’s going to be a dictator on day one. The idea that he would sit in the office, and I’ll show you before you leave, off the Oval Office and watched for hours the attack on the Capitol and the destruction and the mayhem and the people who were killed. The police officers who died and called them political heroes, call them patriots. And saying that if he gets elected, he’s going to free them all because they’re being held illegally. I mean, it’s just… think of the things he says. Look at the way… he talks about minority populations or Hispanics… I can’t think of any other time in my lifetime, in history that’s occurred that you’ve had somebody who’s had this kind of attitude. He says… I’m going to be a dictator on day one. No one doesn’t believe him.”
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PRESIDENT BIDEN: “How can you love your country only when you win? And his attitude about what he should be able to be doing and what the power of presidency is. He wants to suspend parts of the Constitution. Who in God’s name would say that? Who said that before? So he has a very, very, I think, jaded view of the Constitution. He made it clear that he doesn’t plan on abiding by parts of it if he thinks it’s not appropriate. And it’s just… at least he’s saying it out loud.”
[…]
On keeping our community safe from gun violence:
PRESIDENT BIDEN: “Look, I, along with Dianne Feinstein, passed the first limitation on assault weapons and the number of bullets that could be in a rifle. The idea anybody needs 100 rounds on a rifle and an AR-15. I was out in Uvalde. I met with every one of those families. I spent four hours with them. I looked at the pain in their faces. I saw what they felt. I could feel it. And the idea that. And you know… said, just get over it, got to get over it. The idea we don’t have background checks for anybody purchasing a weapon, the idea that we’re going to be in a position where he says that he famously told the NRA that don’t worry, no one’s going to touch your guns if I… From the very beginning, I used to teach the Second Amendment in law school, from the very beginning, there were limitations. You couldn’t own a cannon. You couldn’t… You could own a rifle or a gun.”
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On creating opportunities for Latino students
PRESIDENT BIDEN: “And that’s why I also put in $14 billion dollars in Spanish speaking institutions of higher education. And the reason for that is… I did that same with the African American community, so HBCUs. In two separate funds. But here’s the deal. Think about this. Every student who graduates from high school, going to community college or college, whether they’re Latino or Asian American, whatever, they have the same capacity as white students. But guess what? The universities don’t have these large funds. And guess what? All the jobs in the future. What are they? They’re high-tech jobs. They’ll have laboratories to be trained in. So it’s overwhelmingly in the interest not only of the community, but the country to grow the capacity for these students to be able to learn. So that’s why I’ve invested in early education, and we have to do more than we’re doing now.”
On border security:
PRESIDENT BIDEN: “Well, first of all, the first piece of legislation I introduced as president was related to the border. The first one. I wanted to make sure everything from Dreamers had a path to citizenship, all the way to providing for enough border security people to orderly handle the border, to allow legal immigration and prevent illegal immigration. We’re in a situation where, for example, we don’t have enough officers to even interview people to discern whether they have a legitimate fear or concern to qualify to come in. We don’t have enough people at the border with our Border Patrol people. We don’t have enough machinery that we can detect fentanyl and illegal drugs coming in. It’s all there. And so what happened? We worked this with a very conservative Republican from Oklahoma, a Senator, came along and he ran on one side and Democrats on the other side, and they worked for four months, and they came up with a proposal. It didn’t have everything I wanted. I told them I was going to go back and get Dreamers etc., but the thing it did do, it provided for a significant more personnel to make an orderly transfer and allow legal immigration to increase, not decrease and diminish illegal immigration. And when… this is literally the truth, what happened was when Trump found out that I liked it and I supported it, and I’d get, quote, credit for it, he got on the phone, not a joke, checked with the Republicans and called them and said, don’t be for it, will benefit Biden. When the hell would you vote on a major piece of legislation based on whether you benefit somebody that’s in politics? It’s either good or it’s bad. It was a good piece of legislation, and I’m not giving up on it.”
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On lowering costs for Latino families:
PRESIDENT BIDEN: “For years, I’ve been trying to take on big pharma that makes billions of dollars a year overcharging for prescriptions, for example. We’re in a situation where if you go on Air Force One with me and told them to pick any country in Europe that you want me to fly to, I’d take you and you take your prescription from the United States from a drugstore. You can walk down the street here. I can get you that same exact prescription filled for 40 to 60% less. And so what we finally were able to do, and I’ve been fighting for this for a long time, is say, here’s the deal. Medicare pays for all those drugs that seniors need for whatever the reason. But, for example, there’s a higher propensity among Hispanics for diabetes and other things. Well, guess what? Instead of paying $400 a month for insulin, we’re paying, you only have to pay $35 a month now. Done, done. And what’s done also will take effect in January of next year is that no matter what your total bills are for prescription drugs, you’ll never have to pay more than a senior, more than $2,000 a year because some of these cancer drugs are ten, 15,000 bucks a year.
On making the ultra wealthy and corporations pay their fair share and protecting the ACA
PRESIDENT BIDEN: “The Affordable Care Act… Trump is totally opposed to it. Totally opposed to it. Guess what? You’d have millions of people not able to have insurance because they have a pre-existing condition. No insurance company. This covers them. And by the way, it generates economic growth, not just I mean, I anyway, I just can’t fathom the things that Donald Trump says and believes about. But he’ll stand in Mar-A-Lago and say to his friends, I know you’re all wealthy. I know 20 of you guys are worth a hell of a lot of money. We’re going to make sure we get you a tax cut, a tax cut and they’re all cheering. Well guess what, man? It’s about time they start paying their fair share.”
