President Joe Biden toured a busy port of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday. This was his first visit to the area after two years in office as Republicans accused him of being weak in border security while immigration numbers went through a spiral.
Biden watched El Paso border patrol agents demonstrate how to search vehicles for drugs, gold and other contraband. In a sign of serious political tensions over immigration, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott handed Biden a letter upon arrival saying the “chaos” at the border was a “direct result” of the president’s failure to enforce federal law. said.
Biden was scheduled to spend several hours City, is currently the largest corridor of illegal crossings, the majority of which are Nicaraguans fleeing oppression, crime and poverty in their own country. They are among immigrants from four countries currently subject to expedited deportation under new rules enacted last week by the Biden administration, which drew strong criticism from immigration advocates.
The president met with border officials to discuss immigration and the increasing trafficking of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.This is causing overdose to skyrocket in the US
Biden was scheduled to visit the El Paso County Immigration Services Center and meet with nonprofits and religious groups that help immigrants arrive in the United States.
Biden’s announcement on border security and his visit to the border are meant to defuse political turmoil and blunt the impact of an upcoming investigation into immigration promised by House Republicans. The policy requires action by a deeply divided Congress, and in recent years multiple efforts to enact sweeping changes have failed.
Biden was scheduled to head south from El Paso to Mexico City, where he and the leaders of Mexico and Canada would meet on Monday and Tuesday for a North American summit. Immigration is one item on the agenda. The challenges facing the United States at its southern border require multilateral cooperation, demonstrating that foreign policy is as important as US internal policy.
In El Paso, where migrants congregate at bus stops and parks before traveling, border patrol officers stepped up security before Biden’s visit.
Ruben Garcia, of the Annunciation House aid group, said: “They are more consistently checking the status of people documented and trying to send a message saying they’ll pick you up if it’s not being processed. I think there is.” El Paso.
For immigrants and asylum seekers fleeing violence or persecution, protection in the U.S. is primarily available to those who have the money or are adept at finding financial security. I noticed more.
Jose Natera, a Venezuelan immigrant living in El Paso and seeking asylum in Canada, is reluctant to seek asylum in the United States because he has no hope of finding a US sponsor and is now afraid of being sent to Mexico. He said that it was
“Mexico is a horrible country with crime, corruption, cartels and police persecution,” he said. “People who are thinking of going illegally are told they have no chance, but at the same time I have no sponsors…I came to this country to work, not to play.”
The number of immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border has increased dramatically in Mr. Biden’s first two years in office. His one-year stoppages through September 30 put him over 2.38 million, the first time he topped 2 million. The administration has been reluctant to take a Trump administration-like hard line and has struggled to crack down on border crossings.
The policy change announced last week is Biden’s biggest move yet to contain illegal border crossings, and will displace tens of thousands of migrants arriving at the border. 30,000 immigrants from Venezuela each month have the opportunity to come to the United States legally, as long as they fly, get a sponsorship, and pass a background check.
The United States will also deny immigrants who do not first seek asylum in any country they transit en route to the United States-scheduled dates and times.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mallorcas told reporters aboard Air Force One that the administration was “seeking to encourage safe and orderly practices and to eliminate smuggling gangs,” adding that the policy was “not entirely prohibitive.” No, but said it was an attempt to protect immigrants from crime.The trauma that smuggling creates.
The change was welcomed by some, especially leaders in cities with high concentrations of immigrants. But Mr. Biden was accused by immigration advocacy groups of taking steps that were modeled after the former president’s actions. Administrative officials disputed that characterization.
In all of his 50 years of international travel as a public servant, Mr. Biden has never spent much time at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The only visit the White House can mention was a drive to the border while Biden was running for president in 2008. He sent Vice President Kamala Harris to El Paso in her 2021, but she was criticized for mostly avoiding her actions. It wasn’t in the center of an intersection like it is now.
President Barack Obama visited El Paso in 2011he inspected Border Operations and the Paso del Norte International Bridge, but was later criticized for not returning home as tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors crossed from Mexico to the United States.
Trump, who has made immigration hardening a signature issue, has made several trips to the border. During one visit, he packed into a small border station to inspect cash and drugs confiscated by agents. During a trip to McAllen, Texas, which was at the center of the growing crisis at the time, he made one of his most frequently repeated claims that Mexico would pay to build a border wall. rice field.
After Mexican leaders flatly rejected the idea, American taxpayers were set to introduce the bill.
