SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
beto o rourke
To 'Push' Biden on Gaza, Beto O'Rourke Latest to Back 'Uncommitted' Campaign in Michigan
"I do think it makes sense for those who want to see this administration do more, or do a better job, to exert that political pressure," said the Texas Democrat.
Feb 24, 2024
Texas Democrat Beto O'Rourke became the latest high-profile member of the party to back the push for Michigan voters to tick the "uncommitted" box on the primary ballot next week as a way to protest President Joe Biden's unconditional support of Israel's unyielding assault on the people of Gaza.
"I do think it makes sense for those who want to see this administration do more, or do a better job, to exert that political pressure and get the president's attention and the attention of those on his campaign so that the United States does better," said the former congressman who has run for both president and the U.S. Senate.
In an interview with the Michigan Advance on Friday, O'Rourke explained that he was partly influenced by a recent New York Times op-ed by Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud which argued that "no amount of landmark legislation" passed by the Biden administration "can outweigh the more than 100,000 people killed, wounded, or missing in Gaza. The scales of justice will not allow it."
"Yes, let's help him, let's push him, let's apply pressure where we can, but let us in no way undermine his ability to win in November.”
O'Rourke said he agrees "with the aims and the goals" of the grassroots campaign in Michigan that is urging Democrats to use Tuesday's primary contest, in which Biden faces no real opponent, as a way to express the deep frustration many voters in the state are feeling over the carnage in Gaza.
"We should have a ceasefire, there should be a return of each [and] every single one of those hostages [taken by Hamas], there should be an end to this war and there should be a negotiated solution to Palestinian statehood," O’Rourke told the news outlet. "All of that needs to happen, and I share the concern that the United States is not doing close to enough to bring those things to pass."
Polls have shown a strong majority of Democratic voters support an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, something Biden has steadfastly refused. Jewish Americans have been among those speaking loudest over U.S. backing of Israel's genocidal campaign in Gaza, with groups like Jewish Voice for Peace and If Not Now staging countless demonstrations in cities across the nation over the last four months. Disagreement with the administration's policy is especially high among younger voters as well as the Arab American and Muslim Americans who represent a sizeable bloc of Michigan voters.
In his op-ed, Mayor Hammoud said that like many in his community, the humanitarian disaster and death toll in Gaza has made it nearly impossible to sleep at night, but that by voting "uncommitted" on Tuesday he will not only be voicing his dissent but also expressing a kind of hope. He wrote:
The hope that Mr. Biden will listen. The hope that he and those in Democratic leadership will choose the salvation of our democracy over aiding and abetting Mr. Netanyahu’s war crimes. The hope that our families in Gaza will have food in their bellies, clean water to drink, access to health care and the internet and above all else, a just state in which they have the right to determine their own future.
The hope that, one day soon, Dearborn will be able to sleep again.
In my sleepless nights, I have often questioned what kind of America my daughters will grow up in: one that makes excuses for the killing of innocent men, women and children or one that chooses to reclaim hope. What still lies between betrayal and hope is the power of accountability. It is my prayer — as a father, the son of immigrants and as a public servant in the greatest city in the greatest nation in the world — that my fellow Michiganders will harness this power and lend their voice to this hope by holding the president accountable.
Despite his endorsement for those campaigning for "uncommitted" in Michigan, where O'Rourke was visiting over the weekend as part of a book tour, he said that he still wants Biden to win reelection.
"I support the president; I want him very badly to beat Donald Trump," he said. "I don't want to do anything that weakens his ability to do that, because for whatever legitimate concerns people have about President Biden's response to the war in Gaza, we do know for a fact that, under President Trump, it would be much worse. And so, yes, let's help him, let's push him, let's apply pressure where we can, but let us in no way undermine his ability to win in November.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
Discovery of Bodies in Rio Grande Barrier Spotlights Abbott's 'Barbaric' Border Policy
Rep. Joaquin Castro accused Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott of "knowingly trying to injure, maim, and kill migrants seeking asylum in the United States with razor wire and drowning devices."
Aug 03, 2023
Congressman Joaquin Castro on Thursday led condemnation of what he called Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's "barbaric" border policies after two bodies were found stuck in the buoy barrier placed in the Rio Grande on the U.S.-Mexican border.
Mexican officials said the deceased—one of whom is reportedly a child—were found about three miles from each other on Wednesday near Eagle Pass. According toKUT in Austin, the recovery of the two bodies was led by the migrant protection group Grupos Beta, a service of Mexico's National Migration Institute.
"You don't stop migration by setting death traps"
Sister Isabel Turcios of Casa Dignidad (Dignity House), a migrant shelter across what Mexicans call the Río Bravo in Piedras Negras, told The Dallas Morning News that the second body found was of a Honduran child. Local television reports showed a grieving mother who said she is from Honduras.
"Abbott's buoys are like a trap set for migrants," said Turcios. "This is a terrorizing situation. You don't stop migration by setting death traps... You treat humans like human beings, not like animals."
Castro (D-Texas) accused Abbott—who in June announced the installation of the barrier to deter migrants from attempting what was already a life-threatening river crossing—of "knowingly trying to injure, maim, and kill migrants seeking asylum in the United States with razor wire and drowning devices."
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw said that "preliminary information suggests" that one of the victims "drowned upstream from the marine barrier and floated into the buoys" and that "there are personnel posted at the marine barrier at all times in case any migrants try to cross."
According to KUT:
The area around Eagle Pass where the buoys have been installed is a hot spot for border crossings and an already dangerous part of the Rio Grande to cross. There have been 89 deaths and 249 water rescues since 2018, according to an affidavit from the U.S. Border Patrol chief.
Echoing Castro, Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) tweeted: "What Abbott is doing at the border is barbaric. This is a grave violation of human rights. Migrants deserve to be treated with human dignity."
Former Democratic congressman Beto O'Rourke asked, "How many more people will die before our federal government acts?"
Steven Monacelli, a special investigative correspondent for the Texas Observer, said it "seems like this was an inevitable consequence, if not the underlying reason for putting up the buoy barrier in the first place."
Last week, the U.S. Justice Department sued Texas and Abbott, arguing that "this floating barrier poses threats to navigation and public safety and presents humanitarian concerns" and citing "diplomatic protests by Mexico."
The office of Mexican Foreign Secretary Alicia Bárcena—who last month filed a formal complaint over the barrier—issued a statement reiterating "the position of the government of Mexico that the placement of wire buoys by the Texas authorities is a violation of our sovereignty."
"We express our concern about the impact on the human rights and personal safety of migrants that these state policies will have, which run counter to the close collaboration between our country and the federal government of the United States," the ministry added.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular