On Thursday, former President Donald Trump will be at Eagle Pass, TX, where he'll visit with residents and community leaders to discuss the complete disaster at the border caused by the Biden administration's decision to reverse various Trump-era policies and its failure to enforce existing laws.
For some reason we can't fathom, President Biden's team thought it was a good idea to shuttle him down to Brownsville, Texas for a competing appearance roughly 300 miles away from Eagle Pass. Biden has visited the border just once during his presidency, where he inspected CBP facilities, walked a stretch of the border wall, and stayed far away from any migrants. According to the White House, the Thursday trip will serve as an opportunity to "discuss the urgent need to pass the Senate bipartisan border security agreement, the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border in decades."
"He will reiterate his calls for Congressional Republicans to stop playing politics and to provide the funding needed for additional US Border Patrol agents, more asylum officers, fentanyl detection technology, and more," a spox continued.
In short: 'Give me $60 billion for Ukraine so we can 'fix' the border' (as opposed to simply issuing Trump-style executive orders).
The visits will spotlight the immigration crisis, which has emerged as a key issue in the 2024 presidential race that's all but expected to be a rematch between Trump and Biden. The border trips come amid record-breaking urges in illegal immigration - with the US experiencing some 10.2 million illegal immigrants crossing into the country since Biden took office.
And of course, as we first revealed, all of the jobs since 2018 have gone to non-native born workers, which primarily means illegal immigrants.
Ahead of Thursday's visit, President Trump released a video message, in which he said: "Under my leadership, we had the most secure border in U.S. history by far. We replaced ‘catch-and-release’ with ‘detain-and-deport.'" - but that Biden "terminated every successful border policy," including "Remain in Mexico," which required asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases were pending review in the US.
https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1653824446837440513?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Trump has repeatedly pledged to launch an unprecedented deportation operation as part of a multi-pronged effort to reverse and deter illegal immigration that's happened under Biden.
In a recent post to Truth Social, Trump said: "When I am your president, we will immediately seal the border, stop the invasion, and on day one, we will begin the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals in American history!"
Eagle Pass experienced an overwhelming 2,000 arrests daily of illegal immigrants not long ago. That number has declined due to the state’s efforts, yet Abbott is a pebble in the Biden administration’s shoe.
However, Americans know those numbers will increase again if the federal government does nothing. Polls across the nation have been publishing warnings now for months. After the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary, immigration was the top issue on voters’ minds. Edison Research exit polls in South Carolina had immigration crowning the list.
And then this week, Monmouth Polling dropped the bomb: “More than 80% of voters now see undocumented migration as either a very serious problem (61%) or a somewhat serious problem (23%).” The survey also showed that the majority (53%) of voters polled favored building the wall. And about a third believe illegal immigrants commit more violent crimes. Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, explained: "“Illegal immigration has taken center stage as a defining issue this presidential election year. Other Monmouth polling found this to be Biden’s weakest policy area, including among his fellow Democrats.”" -Liberty Nation
As the Epoch Times notes; Alison Anderson, a mother of three who lives near Eagle Pass, is resentful that President Biden has avoided border visits, unlike President Trump, who visited frequently during his presidency. This Thursday’s visit marks only the second time that President Biden has visited the southern border since he took office; he made a stop in El Paso in January 2023.
“It’s a joke for him to come here three and a half years into the border crisis that he created himself,” she told The Epoch Times.
When asked about President Biden’s call for Congress to give him more funding and more authority to address the border, Ms. Anderson was not impressed.
“This is his mess,” she said, “and he needs to own it.”
In contrast, Ms. Anderson sees President Trump’s visit in a positive light. “We already know what he is capable of doing with the border,” she said, referring to the policies he implemented during his term. Ms. Anderson is confident that, if he regains the presidency, he will fulfill his pledge to reinstitute border-enforcement policies.
Ms. Anderson said she and other residents are looking for relief from a litany of problems, including “convicted rapists illegally cutting through their properties ... illegals trying to break into their home ... trying to steal their vehicle ... trying to come up to their little girls at night.”
“People are fed-up in border communities,” she said. “We’re tired of it.”
But some lifelong residents of Laredo, a border town of 256,000 people about halfway between Eagle Pass and Brownsville, said that illegal immigration has always been an accepted part of life for them.
“It’s just that right now, the focus is there,” said Alejandra Lightner, 48, as she and her friend, Rosa Montante, 59, sat on a bench in Laredo’s North Central Park, feeding stray cats.
The two women said that some people appreciate being able to employ illegal immigrants to do yard work or house-cleaning at reduced rates. So, in that way, people are benefiting from illegal immigration.
Ms. Anderson bristles at that notion. “This isn’t about cheap labor. This is about our safety and our security and legal immigration, not breaking our laws to come into the United States,” she said.
Ms. Lightner did say that she was disappointed that President Biden has “basically permitted” a “massive influx” of illegal immigrants.
via zerohedge