As the issue of immigration rises to the forefront of Americans’ minds as the president aims to deflect attention away from his leading 2024 opponent, Joe Biden and Donald Trump staged simultaneous visits to the country’s southern border on Thursday.
At Brownsville, Texas, where local leaders, law enforcement, and Border Patrol agents briefed Biden—who was wearing a baseball cap—Trump was stationed more than 300 miles away in Eagle Pass, Texas, where the state and federal governments were at odds over border security. During his stop-in, Trump will also sit down for an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News; this was announced prior to his White House trip.
As the general election approaches and both candidates prepare for the rematch in November, the competitive appearances set the stage. The setting of the showdown is deliberate, as Biden and Trump are capitalising on a topic that will undoubtedly be a major focus of the 2024 race. The president is highlighting his recent attempts to address the issue and is criticising Trump for impeding his progress, while his rival, Biden, is fueling fears and pointing fingers at Democrats.
The president’s trip comes after weeks of heated rhetoric and a significant change in strategy from the White House. Biden officials are focusing on the border issue and trying to pin the political blame on Republicans and Trump. Earlier this month, Trump urged GOP members to veto a bipartisan Senate border deal.
According to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, “politics” were the reason behind the rejection of a bill that had been completed and included several items that House Republicans had requested. Jean-Pierre made this statement during Wednesday’s briefing. “The president will make his position crystal clear and address the American people on this matter.”
Prior to Biden and Trump’s arrival in Texas, the message war had already begun. At every turn, the Biden campaign has blamed Trump for the failure of the border accord and has brought attention to the anti-immigration sentiments of the former president. On Thursday, coinciding with Trump’s visit, the DNC unveiled a mobile billboard that accused the previous president of using “pure politics” to breach the border and kill legislation.
Republican leadership in the House “chosen to do nothing” when they were told to do so by President Trump, according to Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), speaking on a teleconference with reporters set up by the Biden campaign. You can chalk up the current lack of action in the House to nothing less than Donald Trump’s will and responsibility. He prefers to remain inactive. He is intent on being re-elected.
House Republicans decided to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas earlier this month, and he is travelling with Biden aboard Air Force One, demonstrating the White House’s strong stance on the matter.
During his campaign, Trump has intensified his stance on the subject, shifting the blame for the border crisis onto Biden while promising Americans an extension of his crackdown on immigration during his first administration, which included huge deportations. Thursday, he is set to address the death of 22-year-old Laken Riley of the University of Georgia. His speeches frequently associate immigration with crime in the United States. The latest immigration flashpoint involves a Venezuelan migrant who is facing charges of her abduction and murder.
Slammed Wednesday by the RNC, Biden’s trip was described as a “sanitised border drive-by.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign framed the southern border situation as entirely “Biden’s crisis.”
More than 9 million illegal immigrants, 27 tonnes of deadly fentanyl, and dangerous criminals have crossed the border since Joe Biden took office, according to a statement from spokesperson Karoline Leavitt. “Today, President Trump will visit the crime scene at Biden’s open border,” the statement continued.
Speaker Mike Johnson and many rank-and-file Republicans are currently demanding action on border security before they vote on defence aid, which has led to a deadlock with House Republicans on Ukraine funding. The visit comes at the same time as this standoff. The bipartisan solution on border security that Biden and the Senate had endorsed would have allowed for the hiring of more Border Patrol officers and the tightening of asylum regulations, but Johnson obviously refused to accept it. Johnson has persisted in demanding that Biden utilise his executive authority to resolve the border issue, despite being pressed about the need of money for Ukraine during an Oval Office meeting this week.
During his weekly press conference, Johnson further criticised the president’s visit, pointing out that Biden isn’t going to a border crossing hotspot. While there has been a decrease in illegal crossings over the past month along the southern border (including in the states where Biden and Trump are making stops), there has been an increase in certain areas of Arizona and California.
“Given the current state of affairs, the statistics, and the devastating effects on every community, this is his second visit in three years,” Johnson stated on Thursday. “He has only considered going twice. Brownsville, the 29th most popular border town, is where he plans to go for a photo op. He wouldn’t visit the 29th ranked hotspot for what reason? For the simple reason that he is unwilling to face truth.
Some executive orders that Biden is considering would represent a radical shift in policy for the Obama administration. After a specific amount of unlawful crossings has occurred, he is contemplating a move to prohibit migrants from seeking asylum between ports of entry. This move would utilise a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that Trump has utilised on multiple occasions to influence the immigration system. Also being discussed by administration officials is a programme to swiftly deport individuals who do not satisfy the higher standards and measures to make it more difficult for asylum-seekers to pass the initial screening.
There are indications that Biden may have delayed action for too long, despite the fact that his government is taking a tougher stance on the border.
Immigration is a major issue for more people than ever before, and surveys show that potential voters are not impressed with Biden’s stance on the subject. Of the ten issues polled, the president’s handling of immigration received the lowest approval rating (only 35% according to a Harvard-HarrisX poll done last week). It would be wise for the Biden administration to implement stricter immigration policies, according to nearly three-quarters of eligible voters polled.
Most importantly, the public does not appear to be buying the president’s claim that Congress must take action. Among those who participated in the Harvard-HarrisX survey, 54% of Democrats and 54% of Republicans said that the Biden administration has the authority to solve the issue of border security. Among Republicans, 87% agreed with Trump’s demands to halt the border accord, while independents were evenly divided.
Furthermore, a recent poll from Monmouth University found that the number of Americans in favour of constructing a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border has reached over 50%, which is the highest percentage it has been at any point under Trump’s administration.
Biden “is defending himself. “It’s self-inflicted wounds,” remarked Republican strategist Dave Carney, who has long been a consultant to Biden’s top border foe, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Nobody in this nation is naive. Everyone knows it. According to Carney, “it would be a good start” if Biden were to visit the area to implement policy changes through the signing of several executive orders. However, he did mention that “this is Trump’s strength.”
To turn the tables on Trump and the Republicans in Congress who are obstructing Biden’s efforts to secure the border, senior Democratic strategist in Texas Colin Strother argued that Biden should take a harder line.
“The president is helping the Republican narrative a little too much by making it seem like this is somehow his mess,” Strother said. “He needs to bring to everyone’s attention the fact that Trump had four years to accomplish this—the first two with a Republican House and a Republican Senate—and he consciously decided not to.”
According to Strother, Biden has been through it all because Democrats have been so bad at communicating the administration’s border policies for years.
He continued, “It’s unfortunate that [Democrats] didn’t jump on this sooner, given the impending election.”
