(RightWing.org) – President Joe Biden and his likely November challenger Donald Trump both visited the US-Mexican border last week, and they both did it for the same reason — to promote their positions on immigration. Although they both visited Texas their destinations show very different sides of what’s happening at our southern border. Of course, that’s why they chose them.
On February 29, Biden traveled to Brownsville, Texas, as part of his attempts to play down the illegal migration crisis at the border. It was a good choice for him; illegal crossing attempts at Brownsville have fallen sharply, and the Border Patrol processing center there was empty during his visit. During his visit, local lawyer Priscilla Orta praised Brownsville’s “most empathetic” border unit and insisted “There is no crisis.”
Meanwhile, Trump visited Eagle Pass, ground zero in the ongoing clash between the Biden administration and Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) over immigration enforcement. A federal judge recently suspended a new Texas law that would allow state law enforcement to arrest and detain illegal immigrants, while the administration has repeatedly ordered Abbott (who joined Trump at Eagle Pass on Thursday) to stop using the Texas Army National Guard to string razor wire fences along the border (Abbott has refused to comply, and his Guardsmen are now being reinforced by units from other red states).
Biden has finally been forced to admit that current immigration is unsustainable, but he’s trying to force congressional Republicans to agree on a compromise deal — at the same time as his administration sabotages states’ efforts to actually fix the problem.
Trump has encouraged Republicans to resist the president’s attempts to tie them into a bipartisan solution; his fiery speech at Eagle Pass focused on the lethal consequences of illegal immigration and his plans to ramp up border security. The presidential rivals’ border visits offered voters two very different approaches to dealing with immigration. So far, at least according to one poll, 53% of voters think Trump has better ideas.
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