Immigration: Joe Biden and Donald Trump travel separately, but at the same time, to the US-Mexico border

Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican nominee Donald Trump will travel to Texas simultaneously this Thursday, on the border between the United States and Mexicoin an electoral duel on an issue that is the one that worries Americans most today and which is undoubtedly one of the hottest of the campaign: the advance of migratory flows, which Trump considers an “invasion of criminals”, while Biden accuses the deputies Republicans for failing to pass the necessary laws to regulate it.

Candidates who are sure to contest the November 5 general elections will visit the border area when a record number of migrant crossings are recorded through unauthorized crossings and a recent Gallup poll says immigration has become the biggest concern (more than government and the economy) with 28% of Americans citing this issue at the top of the list. Furthermore, 55% believe that “the large number of immigrants entering the United States illegally” constitutes a serious threat to the country’s vital interests.

When the economy is growing at a good rate and inflation has fallen to normal rates, Immigration appears to be the big issue for the Biden campaign todaybeyond his age. An NBC poll showed Trump leading Biden by 30 points in his handling of the issue. Another from Monmouth revealed that the majority now supports a border wall like the one the GOP began building during his term.

Biden will meet with Border Patrol agents in Brownsville, Texas, a Democratic enclave that gives more humane treatment to immigrants, while Trump will travel to Eagle Pass, about 300 miles to the west, where his ally, the governor of Texas Greg Abbott, ha a tough policy and part of the border area controlled by the military, calling into question the federal government’s jurisdiction over that area.

The immigration issue is one of Trump’s favorites and it was his strong point in the 2016 elections. And now he renews it and raises the stakes: in a message on the Truth Social network he stated that “the invasion of the borders is destroying our country and killing our citizens” and he once again promised “the largest deportation of illegal criminals in the history of the United States” if he is re-elected.

In addition, it is proposed to build huge camps to detain undocumented immigrants and they also refuse asylum applications on the grounds that they carry infections such as tuberculosis.

Biden, meanwhile, blames the Republicans in Congress “to be a politician” and failure to support immigration reforms in a bipartisan proposal that failed on February 7, which included more funding for patrols, strengthened the asylum system and accelerated the deportation of migrants who entered through the border and who could not pay their protection requests.

“Every day from now until November,” he said, “the American people will know that the only reason the border is unsafe is Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican friends,” Biden said then.

The president has tried several policies to dissuade migrants from crossing the southern border, including one last year in which he limited asylum to those who crossed into a third country and did not seek protection there. But they haven’t worked because migrants continue to enter.

The latest policy considered, as reported The New York Times Last week he would have barred asylum to those who cross the border illegally under some sort of daily or weekly quota. This initiative, which resembles a legislative proposal from a bipartisan group of senators that also allowed for so-called border closures, would take effect if more than 8,500 migrants crossed in a single day, or 5,000 on average in a single week. .

Biden could launch an executive order with this initiative, but, a White House spokesperson said, “no executive action, no matter how aggressive, can provide the significant policy reforms and additional resources that Congress can provide and that Republicans have rejected”.