Biden, Trump make visits to US-Mexico border

HOUSTON, US

The state of Texas became a political battleground Thursday for President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump as they made dueling visits to the US-Mexico border to stump for their stances on illegal immigration ahead of the November 2024 presidential election.

Biden visited the border city of Brownsville at the southernmost part of the state, where he met with Border Patrol agents, representatives of law enforcement agencies and state and local Democratic leaders.

He discussed his bipartisan border measure that was derailed in the Senate after Trump voiced his opposition to the bill. The proposal would add thousands of additional border patrol agents, asylum officers and immigration judges, which the president said would speed up the asylum process and deter migrants from crossing the southern border illegally.

"A person who's thinking about entering the United States understands that a case that's to be decided in a few weeks or months, instead of five to seven years, is less likely to come in the first place. They're not going to pay the cartels thousands of dollars to make that journey," said Biden.

The president's proposal would also include $1.4 billion in funding for cities and states directly impacted by the influx of illegal immigrants, with Biden calling the bill "the toughest set of border security reforms we've ever seen in this country."

Trump countered Biden's claims 330 miles (531 kilometers) away in the border city of Eagle Pass, where the former president also met with Border Patrol agents and local law enforcement. In addition, Trump was accompanied by Republican Governor Greg Abbott, who has enacted state measures to combat the border problems in Texas that conflict with federal policies.

"The United States is being overrun by the Biden migrant crime," said Trump. "He’s destroying the country.”

"Three years ago, we had the most secure border in history...We had the most secure border, and people weren't coming because they knew they weren't gonna get in, and we weren't promising free education, free medical, free everything," he added.

Trump said he would crack down on illegal immigration and ramp up mass deportations if he were reelected.

Both men's competing trips came on the same day a federal judge blocked Texas officials from implementing a new state immigration law that would have allowed Texas law enforcement authorities to apprehend, jail and prosecute migrants with broader arrest and deportation powers.