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Immigration Is a Central Issue for Voters. It Was Lost in Thursday’s Debate.

“I think the brief moment that immigration was discussed in this debate, I don’t think either one of them were very clear,” said a leader of a pro-immigration reform group.

Border Patrol agents talk with migrants seeking asylum as they prepare them for transportation to be processed.
Gregory Bull/AP

President Joe Biden only had a few minutes to talk about immigration on the debate stage Thursday, but what he said was muddled.

Biden did call back to controversy during Trump’s presidency over family separation and the Senate bipartisan border deal that failed partly due to Trump’s influence.

“He was taking, separating babies from their mothers, putting them in cages, making sure their families were separated. That’s not the right way to go,” Biden said at one point.