Trump and Biden take their duel to the border with Mexico

Joe Biden and Donald Trump, well on their way to facing each other in the presidential election in November, are moving their duel until Thursday. the border of the United States with Mexico to discuss immigration, a hot topic of the campaign.

The 81-year-old Democratic president will travel to Brownsville, Texas, where he will meet with Border Patrol agents and local officials, according to the White House.

A few hours earlier, Donald Trump, 77, will be in the Texan town of Eagle Pass, some 500 km away, from where he will deliver a speech.

The Republican continues to accuse his rival of having transformed the southern border of the United States into a sieve. He assures that the Democratic leader's asylum policy has caused an unprecedented migration crisis.

“Today, President Trump will visit the scene of crime”, assured a spokesperson for the Republican in a press release, accusing Joe Biden of having left the United States border “open”.

– ” Politics” –

US President Joe Biden prepares to leave the White House aboard the Marine One helicopter, February 28, 2024 in Washington © AFP – Jim WATSON

Joe Biden is going to Texas “to hear from border police agents (…) what is happening on the ground,” the spokesperson said on CNN. word from the White House, Karine Jean-Pierre.

The president will also give a speech and “Americans will hear him explain how Republicans preferred to play politics rather than solve problems,” she added.

Barbed wire along the Rio Grande on February 3, 2024 in Eagle Pass, Texas © AFP – SERGIO FLORES

Because a law on the subject, negotiated by members of both parties, was ultimately rejected by Republicans in Congress “at the request of Donald Trump”, says the spokesperson, adding that the ex-president did so “for its own political benefit”.

The White House assures that the Republican Party is deliberately sabotaging any attempt at compromise on the issue, and that Donald Trump does not intend to give of political victory for Joe Biden in the middle of an election year.

Questioned about Donald Trump's visit, the president recently claimed not to have known that “(s)we good friend was going there” too, a sarcastic allusion to his rival.

The Trump camp, on the contrary, accuses him of imitating the tempestuous businessman.

– No political victory –

Former US President Donald Trump on February 24, 2024 in National Harbor, Maryland © AFP – MANDEL NGAN

The former right-wing president, who built his popularity during his first victorious campaign by promising the construction of a wall between the United States and Mexico, recently used all his influence with Republican elected officials in Congress to block a text on immigration.

The agreement provided, in addition to migration reform, an additional package of aid to Ukraine and Israel.

Donald Trump assures that the expulsion of migrants would constitute the one of his priorities if he were re-elected. “They are killing our people, they are killing our country,” he said recently.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott during a press conference in Eagle Pass, February 4, 2024 © AFP – SERGIO FLORES

In recent weeks, the state of Texas has engaged in a real standoff with the administration of Joe Biden, its Republican governor Greg Abbott, a big supporter of Donald Trump, accusing the government of allow an “invasion” of illegal migrants at the country's southern border.

Border control is a federal jurisdiction in the United States but Texas has increased measures aimed at to counter immigration, with several legal disputes underway on this subject.

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