President Joe Biden will make a rare visit to the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday, the same day a former president will Donald Trump is expected to visit the southern border.
“Biden will travel to Brownsville, Texas to meet with US Border Patrol agents, law enforcement officers and local leaders.” White House said in the statement.
“He will discuss the urgent need to pass a bipartisan border security agreement in the Senate, the toughest and fairest set of border security reforms in decades,” the statement said. “He will reiterate his call to congressional Republicans to stop playing politics and provide the funding needed for additional US Border Patrol agents, more asylum officers, fentanyl detection technology and more.”
Two sources familiar with Trump’s plans told NBC News that Trump will speak in Eagle Pass, Texas, about 330 miles from Biden’s stop.
Caroline Leavitt, Trump’s campaign press secretary, said in a statement that the White House sent Biden to the border because he claimed he “lost horribly” in the 2024 race. “Biden’s disingenuous last-minute attempt to chase President Trump to the border just won’t cut it,” he said.
Commenting on his plans after a campaign meeting in New York on Monday, Biden told reporters: “I was planning to go on Thursday.
“What I don’t know is that my good friend is probably going,” he said, referring to Trump.
Biden declined to answer a question about whether he would meet with migrants during the trip.
Biden he last visited the border in Januaryuary 2023it was his first visit there as president.
His rare visit to the southern border comes as Trump and Republicans continue to attack his administration’s handling of migrants crossing into the United States.
Immigration will be a key issue in the general election cycle as GOP candidates step up attacks on the president and Democrats, while Biden has chided Republicans for failing to take legislative action to address the migrant influx.
An NBC News poll from January 57% of registered voters said Trump would handle border security better, compared to 22% for Biden. In the same poll, 48% of people said they would trust Biden to treat immigrants more humanely, while 31% said the same against Trump.
Earlier this month, Senate Republicans killed one bipartisan border security and foreign assistance bill his chief negotiator was Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla. Republicans ultimately decided to repeal the legislation after some urging from Trump.
As Senate Republicans dash hopes for meaningful congressional action to improve the border situation, The GOP-controlled House narrowly impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas As he ruled the border by a vote of 214-213.
For their part, many Republicans have argued that Biden has the executive power to use his executive powers to address the migrant crisis.
NBC News last week informed The administration is considering unilateral measures that would make it more difficult for migrants to pass the pre-screening process for asylum at the southern border and speed up the deportation of non-eligible migrants who recently arrived in the United States.
Although the Trump administration has implemented several strict immigration policies, including the use Title 42 to expel more migrants, the highest border crossing numbers in some years were recorded during his presidency.
For example, in 2019 The number of undocumented migrants crossing the border has reached a 12-year high. The Department of National Security said at the time.
Julia Ainsley, Zoe Richards and Tara Prindiville contributed.