Criticized for loosening border enforcement and leading to a record number of illegal crossings Biden’s first visit to the US-Mexico border since taking office
U.S. President Joseph Biden inspected the border city of El Paso, Texas on the 8th, watched border guards demonstrate the security check process, and visited an immigration service center, but did not see any illegal immigrants there.
It was Biden’s first visit to the U.S. southern border with Mexico in his two years in office. Republicans have criticized the Democratic president for loosening border enforcement, which has led to record numbers of illegal crossings.
no immigrants
In El Paso, after watching border agents demonstrate how to search crossing vehicles for possible stash of drugs, money and other contraband, Biden made his way to a street lined with abandoned buildings along the road that separates El Paso from the Mexican city of Juarez. His metal border fence is gone. His last stop was the El Paso County Immigrant Services Center, but he didn’t see any of the stowaways housed there.
According to the Associated Press, Biden’s border trip took nearly 4 hours and was “strictly controlled” throughout. He did not go to the border patrol station where illegal border crossers were arrested and detained, and he did not come into contact with any immigrants. As his convoy drove along the border, he could see a dozen immigrants standing on the Juárez side.
According to the report, this trip seems to be intended to demonstrate the smooth operation of various tasks at the border, including legal immigration procedures, confiscation of smuggled contraband, and humane treatment of illegal border crossers, in order to refute the “border crisis” that the Republican Party calls.
In places where Biden has not set foot, hundreds of illegal immigrants camped outside a church in El Paso on the 8th, with three meals a day provided by religious groups and humanitarian aid organizations.
El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, a member of the local delegation that greeted Biden, said that it was a good thing for Biden to visit, but “he failed to see the real difficulty.”
The Republican Party will not stop attacking Biden’s immigration policies. Once Biden arrived in Texas, he received a letter from Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. The “chaos” at the border is a “direct result” of Biden not enforcing federal laws, the letter said.
Was criticized for “show”
Republican Kevin McCarthy, who was elected speaker of the House of Representatives just after 15 rounds of voting, said that Biden’s border inspection was nothing more than “arranging a media photo for publicity.”
He wrote on social media Twitter that the Biden administration “created the most dangerous border crisis in American history”, and the Republican Party, which holds an advantage in the House of Representatives, will hold it accountable.
The Associated Press believes that Biden recently announced new border security measures and arranged a border visit itinerary, partly to offset the impact of Republican lawmakers preparing to launch investigations.
On the 5th, Biden warned illegal immigrants to “don’t appear at the (US) border casually”, and at the same time announced that he could receive a total of up to 30,000 legal immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela every month.
The Biden administration is reluctant to replicate the tough measures taken by Republican former President Donald Trump on illegal immigration. During his two years in office, the number of illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border has risen sharply.
In the 2022 fiscal year ended September 30 last year, U.S. law enforcement officers intercepted more than 2.38 million illegal immigrants on the border with Mexico.
According to Reuters, multiple opinion polls show that Americans give Biden a “failure” in terms of immigration policy. Judging from the average results of multiple polls collected by the “Really Transparent Politics” website, less than 37% of the people approve of Biden’s performance in dealing with immigration issues, which is lower than his overall public support rate. (According to Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, January 9th)