TradingTwist, EL PASO, Texas, January 8 – On Sunday, President Joe Biden made his first trip to the U.S.-Mexico border since entering office, addressing one of the nation’s most contentious political issues as he gets ready to run for re-election.
In an effort to show that he was taking the matter seriously, Biden visited a stretch of the wall that separates the two nations while being accompanied by U.S.-Mexico border Patrol officials. The wall was a top objective for his Republican predecessor Donald Trump.
On Thursday, Biden said his government will increase immigration enforcement by excluding migrants from Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua at the U.S.-Mexico border and extending the list of nations that may be sent back to Mexico.
However, Republicans like Texas Governor Greg Abbott did not find it impressive and accused him of not upholding immigration rules.
Abbott, who might run for president in 2024, delivered Biden a letter upon his arrival in the state that stated: “You have broken your constitutional commitment to defend the States against invasion by the faithful execution of federal laws.”
According to Biden, he hasn’t read the letter yet.
The president also went to the Bridge of the Americas, which unites the United States and Mexico, with Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and saw the tools that U.S.-Mexico border guards use to find illegal substances.
Some Mexico border Patrol agents have reacted angrily to the White House’s pullback of strict enforcement practices, and Biden hopes to improve relations with them.
Given that Republicans have recently taken control of the U.S. House of Representatives, it seems unlikely that Congress will be able to modernize America’s dated immigration system.
Over the past 20 years, right-wing lawmakers have repeatedly scuttled plans for U.S. immigration reform.
On his first day in office two years ago, Biden offered Congress a proposal for immigration reform; however, it was unsuccessful due to Republican resistance, who also opposed his demand for $3.5 billion to strengthen border security.
Following the 2022 midterm elections, where Republicans narrowly won a majority in the House of Representatives, they are now promoting their own border-related initiatives.
According to Republican U.S. Representative Jim Jordan, Biden ought to follow Trump’s zero-tolerance policy, which includes severing children from their migrant parents.
Jordan added, “Frankly, we no longer have a U.S.-Mexico border because of what they’ve permitted to happen.”
On Sunday, Mayorkas claimed that Biden’s capacity to lessen the number of migrants traveling to the United States was hampered by global crises and Congressional deadlock.
On the flight to Texas on Air Force One, Mayorkas told reporters, “We’re basically dealing with a dysfunctional system.
The Democratic mayor of El Paso proclaimed a state of emergency last month due to the fact that thousands of migrants were being detained every day and hundreds were camping on the streets in the freezing weather.
Although the figure includes people who attempted to cross more than once, U.S. border officials detained a record 2.2 million migrants at the border with Mexico in the 2022 fiscal year that ended in September.
In “MARKEDLY DIFFERENT,”
Biden on Thursday established legal, restricted entry points for Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians, allowing up to 30,000 people from those three countries plus Venezuela to enter the nation by plane each month, at the same time that he expanded his ability to deport migrants.
Biden’s actions have received praise from some American business groups that are frantically trying to address acute labor shortages, but they have drawn criticism from Democrats and human rights advocates who claim the new restrictions are backsliding from the president’s 2020 campaign promise to restore historical rights to asylum-seekers.
Mayorkas denied that Biden was resuming the crackdowns of the Trump administration.
It is not at all a ban, he declared. It differs significantly from what the Trump administration had suggested.
Migrants in El Paso reacted nervously to the new approach on the ground.
David Guillen, 43, pleaded with Biden to pardon him and other illegally admitted Venezuelan migrants, many of whom are currently camped out in front of an El Paso church out of concern that they will be apprehended and deported if they try to leave for another city.
“We erred, but it wasn’t a terrible error. We simply desire a better quality of life “said he.
After his trip to El Paso, Biden flew in Air Force One to a Mexican airport, where he was met by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the country’s president.
A three-day conference with Biden, Lopez Obrador, and Justin Trudeau will start on Monday and focus on fentanyl trafficking, energy, economic cooperation, and immigration.
At the airport, Biden and his Mexican colleague had a brief conversation without addressing the media.
According to polls, Americans give Biden a failing grade on his immigration policies.
A Real Clear Politics average of polls reveals that 37% of the public disapproves of how Biden has handled immigration, a percentage lower than his overall popularity rating.
Mayorkas told reporters, “We need to change the system fundamentally.
