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Joe Biden, in a speech in Ireland, will warn against blaming immigrants for unrest as he positions himself to be the democratic nominee. 

Vice President Joe Biden visits with local residents in Ballina during a tour of County Mayo, Ireland, on Wednesday. (Paul McErlane / EPA)

Michael A. Memoli

 

Vice President Joe Biden will warn Friday against “reactionary politicians and demagogues” who blame immigrants for economic and societal unrest and appeal instead to voters’ optimism and the sense of possibility that drew many – including his own ancestors – to American shores.

In a speech during his visit to Ireland, from which those ancestors emigrated to seek a new start in America, Biden will celebrate his roots while drawing a clear contrast with Donald Trump. It will be Biden’s second direct challenge to the presumptive Republican nominee this week.

According to advance remarks provided to the Los Angeles Times, Biden will note how his mother instilled in him a pride in his Irish heritage, as well as “an absolute certitude that she or any of us were equal to any man or woman on Earth.”

“We’re defined by a common creed that says to our children that if they work hard, if they struggle, if they are loyal, if they are courageous – they will have an opportunity to live a better life than the generation before them,” Biden was to say. “It’s defined by a simple belief that anything is possible.  And it’s a belief shared by the vast majority of immigrant families that have come to the United States from many other nations.”

Biden was to note that at a time of “rising xenophobia,” it was important to remember the dreams his and other Americans’ ancestors held for their families as they traveled to the U.S. The remarks were to be an especially timely response from the Obama administration just hours after the historic vote by Britain to leave the European Union amid rising anti-immigrant sentiment. 

Though Ireland and the U.S. share values and are closely bound,  many challenges remain, Biden will note: war, terrorism, economic unease “and the inevitable human reaction of frustration and anger.”

“It provides fertile terrain for reactionary politicians and demagogues peddling xenophobia, nationalism, and isolationism, all of which tear at our social fabric,” Biden was to say. “We see it in Europe and around the world. And we see it today in the United States, where some politicians find it convenient to scapegoat immigrants instead of welcoming them; play to our fears rather than appeal to our better natures; divide us based on religion or ethnicity rather than unite us in our common humanity; and build walls between nations when we should be building bridges among us.”

“That’s why it’s as important as ever to remember who we are as peoples and as nations—self-reflective, self-critical, self-corrective.”

Biden’s comments will come as Trump is also traveling abroad, just across the Irish Sea in Scotland. 

Biden arrived Tuesday for meetings with the country’s prime minister and president, including a round of golf with the former.

But his trip this week is a deeply personal one. Several generations of Bidens have joined him on an itinerary that includes stops in Counties Mayo and Louth, where their ancestors lived before heading to America.

About the same time his great-great grandfather Owen Finnegan left from Louth for the U.S., Biden will note, another shoemaker, Joseph Kearny from County Offaly, did the same, setting a course for his own descendant, President Obama.

“It’s doubtful they knew each other. But one thing we do know – they left everything behind for an uncertain future,” he will say. “And in all of their dreams, could they have ever dreamt that 160 years later, two great-great-grandsons of shoemakers from Ireland would be sworn in as vice president and president of the United States?”