Joe Biden is being called out for immigration virtue-signaling after a video of the Democratic candidate calling for a fence "40 stories high" at the US-Mexican border to keep out the Mexicans bringing in drugs resurfaced.

"I voted for a fence," Biden boasts in the video, unearthed by CNN, before launching into a rant against "American employers who knowingly violate the law when, in fact, they hire illegals" and "people driving across that border with tons, tons, hear me, tons of everything from byproducts for methamphetamine to cocaine to heroin and it's all coming up through corrupt Mexico."

The Biden in the video stands in stark contrast to the Democratic frontrunner who has accused Trump of using migrants' illegal status "to demonize people" and called his immigration policy "one of the darkest moments in our history."

Filmed at a South Carolina campaign stop in November 2006, the clip is hardly ancient history. Biden was referring to his vote for the Secure Fence Act, which secured over $1 billion for 700 miles of double-layered fencing on the border, and he wasn't alone in supporting it - then-Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama also voted for the measure.

Many people jumped in to defend the apparent Democratic frontrunner, insisting a fence is nothing like a wall,

CNN resurfaces Biden remarks calling for a border fence https://t.co/i510vd8MOe FENCE is fine, NOT A wall. — Ernest Espinosa (@TheBigHispanic) May 10, 2019

Is that the last thing he said? Did we put up that fence? Does he think we need more fence to keep people out? Does he think Mexico sends it's rapists and murderers? — Omar Flores (@GohfR) May 10, 2019

So? Most Americans agree. Unless you have a video of Biden promising Mexico would pay or saying the 1,900 miles needs a 30 foot wall costing many, many billions then I don’t see the point of this? — Dean Auker (@AukerDean) May 10, 2019

or even attacking CNN for criticizing Biden – after all, we've all said things in the past we no longer agree with…

Well and there are things I once said that I regret. I don't know if he does and we do need reform but I am CONFIDENT that he wouldn't have gleefully separated families and kept children in cages. — JenaiHuff (@JenaiHuff) May 10, 2019

Seriously? Please keep spewing this out of context and we’ll have 4 more years of Trump. Our country can’t survive that and all those who help him will be responsible for our destruction. — Jacqueline Yatko (@YatkoChronicles) May 10, 2019

Joe Biden has evolved and so have facts on the ground. We’re not supporting him for views he used to hold but what he thinks now. Go, @JoeBiden — Susan Segal (@susiq34683) May 11, 2019

But Trump supporters and progressives agreed Biden's credibility was shot.

CAN’T BEAT TRUMP W/ LIGHTER VERSION OF TRUMP ALERT: In 2008 campaign @JoeBiden called 4 a fence to stop drugs from Mexico and JAILING employers who hire “illegals.” Of course, in January he was #FlipFlopJoe, responding to @cnn on Trump’s wall w/ “come on” https://t.co/DNOHTXXhAg — Jordan (@JordanChariton) May 10, 2019

Many Democrats believed this until they realized they could use it as a weapon to help demonize Trump. You and the media know this. Bring more attention to all of the others, like the Clintons, Obama, Schumer, Pelosi, all of them — Stan (@VintageStan) May 11, 2019

See... there is so much more and more of this. He can’t be the nominee to go against Trump. I don’t see Joe as the answer. Besides, has he said what he’s even offering policy wise? — Michele (@jstmichele) May 11, 2019

"Build the wall" – or the fence – is one of several controversial positions in Biden's past, as he revealed in the video. "I'm the guy who wrote the crime bill, I'm the guy who wrote the national drug trafficking bill, I'm the guy who wrote the law that set up a drug czar," he boasts later in the clip, referring to the notorious Clinton-era law that instituted draconian "three strikes" sentencing laws and toughened punishments for nonviolent drug offenders. Because of "three strikes," American prisons are packed with (mostly black) men serving life sentences for offenses like marijuana possession that are no longer even considered crimes in many states. Biden's support for NAFTA, the free trade agreement widely considered to have eviscerated the American middle class, also hasn't aged well, particularly in light of his "Lunch-Bucket Joe" working-man persona.

The Dem electorate is also a lot of folks of color who didn’t benefit from the crime and bankruptcy bills and NAFTA policies supported by Biden... — IreneHLin (@IreneHLin) May 10, 2019

Joe@biden is no union man, he sold out the American workers for Chinese interests . He loved the Nafta deal that gave Mexico 1 million of American jobs . He’s Wall Street bitch . pic.twitter.com/riM3ew8tUJ — ken pereira (@kenpro11) May 7, 2019

In fact, some pointed out, he has a lot more in common with Trump than he does with many Democrats.

BIDEN TRUMP SIMILARITIES:TPP (Trump WAS against it), NAFTAPro: fracking, fossil fuels, Bailing out big banks, Wall St, Death penalty, Israel, AIPAC, profit prisons, Venezuela interventionAnti: Green New Deal, closing Corp tax loopholes, $15 min wage, money out of politics +👇🏽 pic.twitter.com/oU6GTAGShZ — Alysse (@essylapets) May 5, 2019

Despite his questionable policy record and the habit of getting into women's personal space that has earned him the nickname "Creepy Joe" among his critics, polls still place Biden at the front of the Democratic pack with more than twice the support of Sanders, his closest rival. But there are signs his campaign may be in trouble, as campaign advisor John Anzalone tweeted out a message advising Democrats not to take the polls too literally, since Biden supporters don't use Twitter…

Bidenworld message to/on Twitter, from a memo just out from pollster @JohnAnzo: pic.twitter.com/raJtYhckXP — Ruby Cramer (@rubycramer) May 10, 2019

…only to be raked over the coals for his work lobbying against unions for Trump's "NAFTA 2.0" trade deal.

The level of open Biden corruption is comical. Here's Biden advisor John Anzalone already on the payroll of big business to push for Trump's new NAFTA deal. Nothing Matters 2020! pic.twitter.com/45fjelor0l — Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) May 10, 2019

John Anzalone, an adviser and pollster for Joe Biden, is working for an industry-funded lobbying group formed to help pass President Donald Trump’s NAFTA 2.0, which unions have thus far opposed. https://t.co/zMWKjtTsCn — Avi Asher-Schapiro (@AASchapiro) May 10, 2019

In between phone calls to encourage lawmakers to spurn labor and pass Trump's NAFTA update, John Anzalone is sending out Biden polling memos https://t.co/YChsMSMq53https://t.co/sKgLQV3oCz — David Dayen (@ddayen) May 10, 2019

Also on rt.com Just like me: Trump compares Biden to his own early rise in GOP, hints at possible AG probe

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