EAGLE PASS, United States: President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump visited the bitter US-Mexico border on Thursday in a race for voters on one of the hottest issues in the November election.
The showdown in Texas comes as an unprecedented influx of immigrants into the United States threatens Biden’s chances of preventing a Trump comeback.
Republican Trump, 77, landed in Eagle Pass, Texas, and minutes later, Democrat Biden, 81, arrived about 300 miles (480 km) to the east in Brownsville, Texas.
The split-page moment, eight months before Americans go to the polls in a close election, showed how immigration can become an issue, especially for Biden.
Biden, who is making his second border trip since taking office in 2021, met with Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement agencies before addressing Republicans to try to block immigration reform.
White House deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton told reporters on Air Force One that Republicans rejected Biden’s border bill simply because the former president told them to.
In a sign of the polarization of the issue, Biden was accompanied by Immigration Director Alejandro Mayorkas, who was impeached by House Republicans two weeks ago.
Dangerous trends
More than 2.4 million migrants crossed the US southern border in 2023 alone, many from Central America and Venezuela, fleeing poverty, violence and disasters exacerbated by climate change.
Anti-immigrant stances have long been central to the political identity of far-right populist Trump, who has promised to implement the largest deportation programme in US history if he returns to the White House.
“Nice weather, beautiful day but a very dangerous border, we’re going to take care of it,” Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination told media as he landed in Eagle Pass.
Trump’s campaign described the border as a “crime scene” and said the former president would “outline his plan to put America first and secure the border immediately upon taking office.”
The rival meetings also highlighted the candidates’ starkly different visions for the situation on the US-Mexico border.
Eagle Pass is a prime location for Mr. Trump because Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has taken military control of border areas along the Rio Grande, creating a standoff with the federal government.
By contrast, Biden’s trip to Brownsville was intended to show how his border measures are working in a region where so-called “encounters” with immigrants fell by nearly a quarter in January.
Mayorkas said Biden will hear from border officials about how “border agencies are under-resourced” and how the Republican-blocked bill would give border officials the resources they need.
He also defended Biden’s avoidance of areas where the crisis is worst, saying Brownsville showed how US-Mexico cooperation has helped reduce border crossings.
Republicans blame Biden for the influx of immigrants, while the White House claims Trump’s party is deliberately blocking bipartisan efforts to find a solution.
But polls show the issue is a weak point in Biden’s bid for a second term, with a February NBC poll showing Trump trailing Biden by 30 percentage points on immigration.
Biden insisted earlier this week that the scheduling conflict with Trump, who won the 2020 election, was not intentional, saying he did not know his “good friend” was doing it either.
