Presidential candidate Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) went after President Biden at the beginning of his new primary challenge on Friday, targeting the president’s border policy.
“Right now, having been to the southern border twice, it is not secure,” Phillips said Friday in New Hampshire. “It is inhumane. It is not fair to those who are seeking refuge.”
The moderate Democrat launched his primary campaign on Friday, aiming to unseat President Biden.
He said the Biden administration has mismanaged the southern border and that immigration issues are not taken seriously enough by Democrats. Immigration has consistently been one of the most important issues among Republican voters.
“It is not fair to our border patrol agents who have shown extraordinary mercy and humanity in ways that I wish more Americans saw. And they’ve been demeaned by Democrats,” Phillips said.
Phillips specifically targeted international aid, which he said was often being wasted. He is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which handles aid.
“It’s wasted. It fuels corruption in a lot of places. Why do we not invest in the very countries from which migrants are coming because they’re persecuted, feel unsafe, or have no opportunity,” he said.
“Why don’t we use American resources upstream to invest in those countries, so people have a safe place, they have opportunity, they have shelter and do not need to pour across our border,” he added.
In an interview Thursday announcing his campaign, Phillips lobbed praise on the president, but made it clear that he is not the best leader for the country going forward.
“I think President Biden has done a spectacular job for our country. But it’s not about the past,” Phillips said in a CBS News interview. “This is an election about the future.”
The Minnesota congressman is the only notable primary challenge to Biden for the 2024 election.