Julián Castro has next-to-no chance of winning the 2020 Democratic primary, but he’s making good use of his time in the limelight. Tonight alone, Castro has skewered frontrunner Joe Biden for his inconsistent answers on healthcare, and when Univision anchor Jorge Ramos turned the conversation to immigration, Castro unleashed another cutting attack on the former vice president.
Ramos, one of the moderators, asked Biden one of the toughest questions in the debate so far: “Are you prepared to say tonight that you and Obama made a mistake on deportations?” Biden’s hands are far from clean, Ramos pointed out—he supported a border wall in 2008 and was an integral part of an administration that deported more people than any other, around three million.
Biden didn’t answer the question, pivoting to the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. When pressed, he defaulted to “I’m the Vice President of the United States,” trying to absolve himself of responsibility for the Obama administration’s sins. Ramos tossed the question directly to Castro, teeing up this haymaker:
“My problem with Vice President Biden....He wants to take credit for Obama’s work but not have to answer to any questions,” he said, which was a perfect encapsulation of Biden’s position on... pretty much everything. We’ll see what he has to offer in the next question.