Donald Trump “is the most divisive and dangerous president this country has ever had,” Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke declared in a new op-ed released hours before the second round of CNN primary debates on Tuesday.

Mr. O’Rourke penned an op-ed for CNN that compared his hometown of El Paso, Texas, to Ellis Island and claimed that Mr. Trump “is choosing to make us a nation defined by cruelty” with his hard-line stance against illegal immigration.

The former Texas congressman outlined his plans for addressing illegal immigration, including “building a pathway to citizenship” for the approximately 11 million illegals already living in the U.S. and using his executive authority on “day one” of his presidency to “end detention for those who pose no threat to our communities, reunite families that have been torn apart, and ensure family separation never happens again.”

“Throughout our history, we have faced a series of pivotal moments—when we’ve had to decide whether we would surrender to our worst instincts or uphold our highest ideals,” Mr. O’Rourke wrote. “This is one of those moments.

“In the face of the most divisive and dangerous President this country has ever had, we must choose to be our better selves and remember that, for 243 years strong, asylum seekers, immigrants, and refugees — arriving on the shores of Ellis Island and in the desert of El Paso — have helped make the United States of America the greatest country the world has ever known,” he concluded.

Mr. O’Rourke, who is polling at less than 3% nationally, faces off against nine other 2020 Democratic candidates in Detroit on Tuesday night in the second round of CNN primary debates. Another ten candidates who qualified for the debates will take the stage Wednesday night.

Mr. O’Rourke’s guests at Tuesday’s debate will include three former high school football players who joined Colin Kaepernick’s protests in kneeling during the national anthem.

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