Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden just alienated a huge part of the Democratic far-left progressive branch — again — by embracing former President Barack Obama’s top advisor on illegal immigration.
On Friday, Biden added Cecilia Munoz to his team of transition advisors. Munoz was the face of the Obama White House’s harsh immigration policy, and is widely disliked by the far-left for her role in deporting millions of illegal immigrants.
Munoz was an advocate of mass deportation of illegal immigrants that were arrested inside the United States under Obama.
Biden’s decision to add Munoz to his team met with immediate backlash from the party’s progressive wing.
Erika Andiola, a self-declared illegal immigrant and a leader of the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), called the move a “huge mistake.”
Huge mistake. Huge. Huge mistake. Worst part? We have no other option. I guess we gotta pick our opponent. That’s what it has come down to.
Background: Cecilia Munoz plaid a huge role in the millions of deportations under Obama. https://t.co/DNT3GoOjng
— Erika Andiola (@ErikaAndiola) September 8, 2020
Other open borders and illegal immigrant advocates also expressed anger over the inclusion of Munoz.
As an #Immigration lawyer I am appalled that Cecilia Munoz could be considered for a role in @JoeBiden administration. We need to speak out and stop this now!
— Joshua L. Goldstein (@AttyImmigration) September 9, 2020
Obama was regularly criticized as the “Deporter-In-Chief” while in the White House.
The controversy comes at a bad time for the Biden campaign, which has already struggled to win over the far-left progressive branch of the party.
“The criticism comes as Biden continues to underperform with Latino voters, a fact that is alarming to many Democrats,” The Hill reported. “An NBC News-Marist poll released Tuesday found Biden trailing Trump among Latino voters in Florida, 50 percent to 46 percent.”
“In 2016, by contrast, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton beat Trump among Florida Latinos by 25 points, according to exit polls.”
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham also joined the transition team as one of four co-chairs.
FLASHBACK: Biden’s very big Latino polling problem
The Horn editorial team