President Joe Biden is set to make a rare visit to the southern border on Thursday, coinciding with a planned border stop by former President Donald Trump on the same day.
The purpose of Biden’s visit to Brownsville, Texas, is to address the issue of Republicans obstructing border legislation.
During his trip, he will meet with Border Patrol agents, law enforcement officials, and local leaders. Meanwhile, Trump, currently the leading contender for the Republican nomination, has a scheduled visit to Eagle Pass, Texas, approximately 325 miles away from Brownsville.
Biden’s second border visit of his presidency occurs amid ongoing record migration at the U.S.-Mexico border, which remains a significant challenge for his administration.
In a notable shift, Biden has adopted a more stringent stance on border issues and has placed blame on congressional Republicans for their inaction.
The Republicans, following Trump’s influence, recently thwarted legislation that aimed to implement some of the most robust border restrictions in years.
This strategic move by Biden reflects an effort to reshape the narrative leading up to the 2024 presidential election, aiming to turn an historically challenging issue for Democrats into a potential victory for his campaign.
After Republicans prevented the border bill from coming up for a Senate vote, Biden declared, “Every day between now and November, the American people are going to know that the only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican friends.”
The only other time Biden visited the southern border was in January 2023, when he made a stop in El Paso, Texas, on his way to a meeting about stopping immigration with President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador of Mexico.n.
In a statement, national press secretary for the Trump campaign Karoline Leavitt attacked Biden’s visit, claiming that his “last-minute, insincere attempt to chase President Trump to the border won’t cut it.”
“Americans know Biden is single-handedly responsible for the worst immigration crisis in history,” Leavitt stated.
The president and Biden will talk about “the urgent need” to approve the border security legislation during Biden’s visit on Thursday, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
“He will reiterate his calls for congressional Republicans to stop playing politics and to provide the funding needed for additional U.S. Border Patrol agents, more asylum officers, fentanyl detection technology and more,” Jean-Pierre stated.
Negotiated by a bipartisan group of senators, the proposal would have granted the Biden administration the authority to close the border to illegal migrants if the number of crossings exceeds 4,000 on a daily average during a given week.
Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security would have had to close the border to migrants attempting to cross between ports of entry without prior authorization if the average daily number of encounters with migrants at the border exceeded 5,000, a threshold that is currently met.
Progressive Democrats are pushing back even before any unilateral action is taken, highlighting the fine line that Biden must walk in resolving the border situation in an election year.
According to the House Congressional Hispanic Caucus, its members are against the White House’s unilateral moves to change the asylum system.
