Joe Biden visits Mexico border
The US President has been in office for two years. During this time he did not travel to the southern border - until now.
In El Paso he got a picture of the situation – and was sharply criticized.
US President Joe Biden has traveled to the southern border of the US in the state of Texas for the first time since he took office. During his hour-long visit, which was overshadowed by deep political tensions, Biden met border officials in the city of El Paso on Sunday and walked along the border wall with Mexico. He then traveled on to Mexico City.
The Democrat was previously greeted coolly by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott at the border city’s airport. The Republican handed Biden a letter in which he made serious allegations against the government. The visit comes two years too late, Biden’s “failure” is responsible for the “chaos” at the border.
Abbott calls for continued construction of Trump’s border wall
El Paso had recently become a focus of migration to the United States – the situation had deteriorated dramatically in December. Abbott made the letter he had given Biden public immediately afterwards. “Their open-border policy has emboldened the cartels that grow rich from trafficking in deadly fentanyl and even humans,” it said. The US experienced “the worst illegal immigration” in the country’s history. The Republican demanded that the construction of the border wall in Texas must be resumed immediately. As one of his first acts in office, Biden shut down the heartfelt concern of his Republican predecessor Donald Trump.
Biden has repeatedly been sharply attacked by Republicans because of the situation on the border. Republican governors of various states in the southern United States – including Abbott – had repeatedly sent coaches full of migrants to democratically governed states such as New York or the capital Washington last year to put pressure on Biden. The White House then compared the governors to smugglers.
More than two million attempted border crossings
Biden now visited a crossing at the US-Mexico border in El Paso. He also had border officials show him how to search these vehicles. He got an idea of a facility where aid organizations take care of arriving migrants.
According to the accompanying press, the employees there made it clear that they needed more financial support. Accordingly, Biden did not meet migrants during his trip to exchange ideas with them.
With the high number of migrants, both the local authorities and the local aid organizations are overwhelmed. In El Paso there is not enough housing for the people. At the US-Mexico border, the US Border Protection Agency registered more than two million attempts by people to enter the US between October 2021 and October 2022.
According to the statistics, the number of migrants who do not come from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador is growing. More and more people are coming from Cuba, Colombia, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Thousands of migrants are currently waiting at the US border, hoping for an opportunity to enter the country.
