The President went to the border….
Donald Trump 300 miles away……
President Biden and former president Donald Trump visited separate Texas border towns 300 miles apart on Thursday, blaming each other for a surge in illegal immigration and seeking to take the offensive on an issue that is shaping up to be a critical and volatile factor in this year’s presidential contest.
Biden used his visit to Brownsville, a Democratic stronghold, to blame Trump, the leading Republican presidential candidate, for killing a bipartisan border bill that would have provided $20 billion to hire thousands of new Border Patrol agents and asylum officers and increase detention capacity. The measure also would have included a trigger mechanism to effectively shut down the border, which Biden said he would have been willing to invoke.
Biden said the bill was on its way to passage until Trump “came along and said, ‘Don’t do that, it will benefit the incumbent.’” The president added sarcastically, “It’s a hell of a way to do business in the United States of America.”
Addressing Republican members of Congress, Biden urged them to “show a little spine” and demonstrate independence from Trump. “Let’s remember who we work for, for God’s sake,” Biden said. He ended by addressing Trump directly: “Instead of playing politics with this issue, join me — or I’ll join you — in telling the Congress to pass this bipartisan border security bill. We can do it together.”….
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The remarkable split-screen — the presidential contenders each delivered their speeches at about the same time — provided a preview of what could be a long and bitter general election campaign. Biden took office announcing his determination to handle immigration more humanely than Trump, whose rhetoric on migrants was often incendiary. But he has faced periodic images of chaos at the border during his presidency, and in recent weeks he has taken a harder line.
Ahead of his remarks, Biden received a briefing from Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In each session, presenters highlighted how few resources they have to address the surge of migration at the border, the flow of fentanyl and the need to process asylum claims….
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Biden and Trump chose border cities for their Thursday appearances that reflect their dueling approaches to immigration. Brownsville is in sync with Democrats’ traditional approach of balancing border security with humanitarian considerations. Eagle Pass, by contrast, has become a symbol of Republican defiance against Biden’s handling of immigration. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) seized a park in the city earlier this year, shutting out U.S. Border Patrol agents who had long used it as a staging point….
top image…President Biden talks with the U.S. Border Patrol personnel as he looks over the southern border Thursday in Brownsville, Tex., along the Rio Grande. (Evan Vucci/AP)
bottom image…Former president Donald Trump speaks with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (L) during a visit to Eagle Pass, Tex., on Thursday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)