Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., hit out at President Joe Biden this week, blaming the poor performances of Democrats in the 2024 general election on his immigration policies that he claims were pushed by "far-left elites who have outsized power" in the party.
Torres told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Tuesday that "there was genuine political malpractice" regarding immigration by the Biden administration.
He added, "Since 2022, there has been an unprecedented wave of migration, whose impact was felt, not only at the border but in cities like New York, where the shelter system and our municipal finances were completely overwhelmed."
Torres said, "Despite clear signs of popular discontent, it took the Biden administration two-and-a-half years to issue an executive order restricting migration at the border, and by then it was too late. The Republicans had won the issue, had weaponized it against us."
The congressman added that "when the President issued the executive order, polling revealed that it was popular among the American people."
He then asked, "If it was effective at reducing migration at the border and if it was popular among the American people, why did it take two-and-a-half years to issue the executive order? Because it was unpopular among far-left elites who have outsized power over the policymaking and messaging of the Democratic Party. And therein lies the problem."