Biden condemns antisemitism, affirms support for Israel in Holocaust remembrance speech

Amna Nawaz:

President Joe Biden marked the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Annual Days of Remembrance today, remembering the six million Jewish people who were killed.

In his speech, Biden affirmed America's support for Jewish people and for Israel and condemned antisemitism.

Joe Biden, President of the United States: We have seen a ferocious surge of antisemitism in America and around the world, on college campuses, Jewish students blocked, harassed, attacked while walking to class, antisemitism, antisemitic posters, slogans calling for the annihilation of Israel, the world's only Jewish state, too many people denying, downplaying, rationalizing, ignoring the horrors of the Holocaust and October 7.

Amna Nawaz:

And White House correspondent Laura Barron-Lopez joins me now.

So, Laura, tell us, why did President Biden decide to deliver this speech now?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

The White House sources that I talked to today told me that the president views the increase in antisemitism and hate speech as something that is at crisis levels right now.

This is a wider trend, Amna, that started well before the Hamas attack on October 7. And for the president, this is ultimately a continuation of why he ran in 2020, when he saw neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville chanting — quote — "Jews will not replace us." And so this is something that he wanted to confront head on.

Amna Nawaz:

We know you were at the president's campaign headquarters today talking to your sources. He's spoken about the ongoing protests against the war in Gaza and his speech condemning all of the hate speech, but saying Americans have a right to protest.

How is the campaign viewing this moment politically right now?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

The campaign really stresses that the president's policy is not driven by the politics of the moment. This isn't — he's not responding to criticisms, even those from within his own party.

And campaign aides told me that they don't actually think that the president's position and his policies towards Israel, Gaza are costing him as many votes as those college protests may suggest. And they pointed to recent polls from Harvard, from The Economist, and they show that young voters are ranking the economy and abortion and other issues at higher levels than they are the Israel-Hamas war.

Amna Nawaz:

Meanwhile, on policy, we know, as we follow the war in Gaza, and Gazans tell us they feel there is no safe space there, the administration is considering some new measures related to this? Tell us about that.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

That's right.

Three sources familiar with the administration's thinking told me that the White House is considering allowing certain Palestinians with U.S. ties refugee status. That would be Palestinians that have family members that are either U.S. citizens or have permanent resident status.

Now, Amna, it's important to say that this is in the very early stages of consideration, and it was something that was first reported by CBS News, but we have confirmed it.

Amna Nawaz:

It's — to be clear here, it's not something they have officially announced yet from the White House, right?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

That's right.

So the White House officially has just said from the podium that they're constantly evaluating policy proposals that would further support Palestinians who have U.S. family members that are citizens and who may want to join them in the United States, but that they have nothing to announce on this front at this moment.

Something else that a White House aide told me is that, since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the U.S. has helped more than 1,800 American citizens and their families leave Gaza and come to the United States. They have also helped some children who need dire medical care get care at hospitals in the region.

Amna Nawaz:

I know you have been looking into this more deeply too. What obstacles stand in their way if they were to move forward with something like this, and where does it fit into the larger administration efforts on refugees?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

I spoke to Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, who's the president of Global Refuge. That's a refugee resettlement organization, Amna.

And she said that the biggest obstacle, she thinks, to carrying out a plan like this would be more political than they are logistical.

Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service: I think it's important to understand that program applicants who come through the refugee resettlement program are some of the most extremely vetted of any immigrants seeking to come to the U.S.

This is a program that has a longstanding history. It has had bipartisan support. And, unfortunately, the fear-mongering that we are seeing today resembles what we saw in 2015 when it came to Syrian refugees, which we saw was thoroughly unfounded and unnecessary.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Now, Vignarajah said that what's important distinction here is that, if Palestinians are allowed in through the refugee program, that could take years, Amna.

It's not something that is quick. It would allow them, though, some type of more permanent protected status in the U.S., versus humanitarian parole, which is what we have seen the administration use and allow Afghans and Ukrainians come — use that program to come to the United States, those that are fleeing conflicts.

And humanitarian parole is a faster process, but it only allows for temporary protected status in the United States. So, they could very well end up considering humanitarian parole, as something that would be much more expeditious for allowing Palestinians in.

Another point on this, though, is that it would require close coordination with Egypt. And, of course, there are some fears amongst Egyptian officials, Vignarajah said, as well as amongst Palestinians, that if they were to ultimately evacuate, if more were to evacuate Gaza, that they may not be let back in by the Israeli government.

Amna Nawaz:

And we know, when news of this proposal came out, former President Trump did attack it. Walk us through the policy differences on here.

What do we know about how he approaches this versus how President Biden approaches it?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

There's a stark contrast here between former President Trump and President Biden. And during a recent campaign rally, Trump demonized Palestinian refugees.

Donald Trump, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: Your towns and villages will now be accepting people from Gaza, lots of people from Gaza, because, under chain migration, they can bring everybody they ever touched.

Under no circumstances should we bring thousands of refugees from Hamas-controlled terrorist epicenters like Gaza to America. We just can't do it.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

As you heard there, Amna, the former president has vowed to ban Gaza refugees, would not allow them to come in if they do want to.

He's also vowed to reinstate the Muslim ban, and he's proposed ideological screenings for immigrants. I think it's also important to point out a key distinction between Trump and President Biden when it comes to the matter of resettlement of refugees as a whole, Amna.

Under Trump, he cut the refugee resettlement cap to a record low during his last year to 15,000 in his final year in office, and ended up admitting even less than 15,000. And then, by contrast, President Biden, when he came in, raised the refugee cap to roughly 62,000 during his first year, and now the target is 125,000.

So, overall, President Biden has tried to rebuild the refugee resettlement program.

Amna Nawaz:

All right, our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez.

Laura, thank you.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Thank you.