Campaign rhetoric on Mexico is ‘dangerous, damaging,’ Biden says

Associated Press

MEXICO CITY

Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that some U.S. campaign rhetoric about Mexico and immigrants has been “dangerous, damaging and incredibly ill-advised” and is out of step with most Americans’ attitudes.

Speaking in Mexico City at Cabinet-level talks on boosting economic and commercial ties with one of the United States’ top trading partners, Biden reassured Mexican officials that such talk does not reflect the countries’ bilateral relations.

“The main message I wanted to say to you is that I understand that you can’t poison the well and at the same time work out a real estate agreement to buy the well,” he said.

Without naming names, Biden generally was critical of Republican candidates, several of whom have proposed measures from walling the entire U.S.-Mexico border to deporting all 11 million people estimated to be living in the United States illegally. GOP front-runner Donald Trump said last year that Mexico was sending crime, drugs and “rapists” north of the border.

“Some of the rhetoric coming from some of the presidential candidates on the other team are, I think, dangerous, damaging and incredibly ill-advised,” Biden said. “But here’s what I’m here to tell you: They do not, they do not, they do not represent the view of the vast majority of the American people.”