Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NY) expressed fear Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that President Joe Biden might become the "asylum denier-in-chief" if he reinstates a family detention program, according to a report by Breitbart News.

Menendez said, “The best part of the administration’s immigration policy over the first two years is that they ended family detention, which proved to be a failure under both the Obama and Trump administrations as a way to deter individuals from coming. What we need is a comprehensive plan to deal with the border.”

He continued, “If my situation is I am in a country where staying means where I will most certainly die, see my daughter raped or my son into a gang, I’m going to flee. Well, we need to understand that and deal with it.”

Menendez added, “People fleeing those dictatorships when the administration opened up a legal pathway for those fleeing, it dramatically saw the reduction.

“It’s just an example of what you can do in a way that both is good for the border and preserves our nation as a nation that preserves asylum. If not, if the administration does go down this path, I am afraid that the president will become the asylum denier-in-chief.”

Comparisons to Trump

Democrats in Congress have expressed outrage over the Trump administration's controversial family detention program, which resulted in thousands of immigrant families being separated and detained at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Former President Donald Trump implemented the policy in 2018 as a part of his "zero tolerance" approach to immigration. The policy was intended to deter illegal immigration, but it quickly came under fire for the inhumane treatment of families and children.

The program was criticized for the poor living conditions, lack of access to medical care, and instances of abuse and neglect. The Trump administration's handling of the program was also criticized for the lack of transparency and accountability.

Democratic lawmakers are calling for an investigation into the program and are demanding that the families who were separated be reunited. They are also pushing for reforms to the U.S. immigration system to prevent such policies from being implemented again in the future.

Democrat Outrage

“The United States is running concentration camps on our southern border, and that is exactly what they are – they are concentration camps,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told an Instagram Live in June of 2019. 

“And if that doesn’t bother you … I want to talk to the people that are concerned enough with humanity to say that we should not, that ‘never again’ means something,” a reference to a phrase commonly invoked by Jews about the Holocaust.

“The fact that concentration camps are now an institutionalized practice in the home of the free is extraordinarily disturbing, and we need to do something about it,” she added.

The issue of immigration reform has been a contentious issue in American politics for years, and the Trump administration's family detention program has only added fuel to the fire. A

s the Biden administration takes office, many are hoping for a more humane approach to immigration that will prioritize the safety and well-being of families and children.