Jul 15, 2019 - Politics & Policy

Conway says Biden's "complicit" in Obama admin immigrant deportations

Activists including 50 immigrants protest against former Vice President Joe Biden in Philadelphia Wednesday. Photo: Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Getty Images

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway tied the Obama administration's immigration record to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on "Fox News Sunday," as she defended President Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.

Details: Conway told Fox News host Chris Wallace that immigration enforcement "happened under President Obama," when Biden was vice president. "Just this week, you saw massive protests at Joe Biden’s Philadelphia headquarters ... and those people are angry that he was complicit in the Obama-Biden deportation," she said.

The big picture: ICE has deported more immigrants this fiscal year than any full fiscal year of Trump's presidency, but it hasn't reached President Obama's early deportation levels, Department of Homeland Security figures obtained by Axios show.

Why it matters: With four months left in the fiscal year, it puts Trump's deportations in perspective and shows the reality behind the anti-immigrant pledges that have come to define his presidency, Axios' Stef W. Kight and Alayna Treene note.

What he's saying: In video captured by Politico, Biden defended the Obama administration's immigration record when confronted by protesters in New Hampshire on Friday. He said he wouldn't apologize if anyone deported had committed a felony, but he would apologize for deportations if the immigrants "were engaged in a misdemeanor and/or their family was separated."

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