Vice President Joe Biden defended Central American migrants taking advantage of asylum loopholes in the immigration laws, comparing them to his own ancestors leaving Ireland for the United States during the potato famine.

“One of the reasons we are the nation we are is because we’ve been able to cherry pick the best of every culture in the world,” Biden said, pointing to the American immigration system.

Biden commented on immigration during a campaign event in Nashua, New Hampshire on Tuesday.

That’s why we are who we are, think about it, whether it was my great-great grandfather getting on a coffin ship up in the Irish Sea to come here in the middle of famine or somebody coming in Guadalajara today saying, ‘You know, I got a great idea family, let’s sell everything we have give it to a coyote take it across the border drop us in the desert, place that doesn’t want us, won’t that be fun?’

Biden suggested that Americans who were critical of migrants and illegal immigrants rushing the Southern border were hypocritical, describing them as the “best” of Central American countries.

“Who are your ancestors who came?” he asked. “What happened? These are the people that are optimistic, tough, resilient, they are the people that came so we picked the best of every nation.”

He made an exception for African Americans, pointing out that their presence in the country was “the original sin we have to live with” as a result of slavery.

Biden also defended migrants and illegal immigrants coming from Central American countries during a visit at a taco restaurant in Los Angeles

He appeared angered by Trump’s rhetoric on the border struggles, demanding that the president stop characterizing immigrants as dangerous.

“The idea that we’re trying to scare the living devil out of the American public … it’s just simply wrong,” he said.