Biden, Trump visit US-Mexico border
Both seek advantage on immigration with voters
BROWNSVILLE, Texas – The longanticipated standoff between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump finally happened Thursday, not on a debate stage but along 325 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.
The two political rivals – Trump is the likely GOP presidential nominee who will face Biden in November – staged separate visits to the southern border in Texas to draw attention to immigration and border security, now the leading issue for voters. The visits promised to be a duel in optics, if not specifics.
Biden traveled to Brownsville, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley, which was once the nation’s busiest corridor for illegal crossings but which in recent months has seen a sharp drop in the number of people entering illegally into the United States. Biden met with federal immigration agents and local government and law enforcement officials and pressed Congress to act swiftly to pass border security legislation.
About half an hour before Biden’s arrival, Trump landed in Eagle Pass, Texas, roughly 325 miles northwest of Brownsville and part of the corridor that has seen the largest increase in border crossings.
Eagle Pass has become the focal point of the standoff between the federal government and the states on border security, with the Texas National Guard installing razor wire along a 29-mile stretch as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s efforts to prevent migrants from entering the United States. Abbott, a Republican, joined Trump in Eagle Pass.
The competing stops by Biden and Trump come as polls show Americans are deeply concerned about the situation along the border.
A Gallup poll released this week showed that, for the first time since the last decade, Americans now believe immigration to be the most important issue facing the United States. A separate survey earlier this month by the Pew Research Center showed 80% of Americans believe the government is doing a bad job dealing with the large number of migrants at the border.
Yet another poll this month by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas showed that a majority of Texans want to see more enforcement at the state’s southern border with Mexico and support Abbott’s border security initiatives, such as building border barriers and installing razor wire along the Rio Grande.
In Brownsville, several hundred mostly Biden supporters lined up on Boca Chica Bouvelard outside the city’s airport before Biden’s arrival Thursday, waving blue Biden flags and chanting, “Four more years!” More residents parked along the boulevard, stretching for about half a mile, waving U.S. flags and hoping to catch a glimpse of the president.
Elia Zamora-Hernandez, 71, drove 30 miles from Harlingen to show her support. Donning a Biden cap and waving a Biden flag, she said Republicans are not cooperating enough with Biden to allow him to do his job.
“The border has been a problem for years, years, years,” Zamora-Hernandez said. “This is not something he created.”
Victor Cavazos, a director at The Sidewalk School, a nonprofit that helps asylum-seekers in Reynosa, Mexico, said he was baffled that Biden chose not to meet with leaders of nongovernmental organizations while in Texas.
“He’s missing a big piece of the puzzle,” he said. “We know what the needs are on the ground.”
In Eagle Pass, city police cordoned off the streets leading down to the riverside Shelby Park ahead of Trump’s visit. On Main Street, the four corners of the intersection with Commercial Street were filled with a mix of Trump and Biden supporters.
“We’ve seen two surges under two administrations, and it was better under Trump,” said Freddy Arellano, a junior at nearby Sul Ross University, who sported a Make America Great Again ball cap. “Under Biden it’s unbearable.”
At the opposite corner, Steve Fischer, who is the chief public defender for the region, called Trump’s visit and Abbott’s policies at the border “a big joke” and “political theatrics.”
Jose Hernandez, who served in the Army and wore a Vietnam veterans cap, was in the middle, figuratively and literally. “I’m 50-50 on Biden and Trump,” he said. “Whoever can fix it.”
Hernandez said he voted for Biden in 2020, but the president has not yet earned his support for a second term.
Domingo Garcia, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, welcomed Biden’s and Trump’s visits to the border.
“They’re a little late,’’ Garcia said. “But at least they’re finally paying attention to a humanitarian crisis that has been festering for years.’’
Garcia said immigration and border issues are going to be key campaign issues in November, and Latino voters will be an important voting bloc.
Contributing: Deborah Berry, USA TODAY
Michael Collins, Lauren Villagran and Rick Jervis are USA TODAY reporters; John C. Moritz is an Austin American-Statesman reporter.