The saying goes that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” If that is truly the case, then President Joe Biden certainly does like former President Donald Trump.
On Thursday, Biden plans to travel to the southern border in Brownsville, Texas. While there, he’ll meet with local leaders, law enforcement officials and Border Patrol agents.
Those plans were made public on Monday by officials at the White House, just a few days after Trump announced he was planning to travel to Eagle Pass in Texas on Thursday as well.
Biden joked about his schedule coinciding with Trump’s, telling reporters:
“I planned it (the trip to the border) for Thursday. What I didn’t know was that my good friend apparently is going.”
Despite naming Vice President Kamala Harris as his “border czar” a few years ago, Biden has seemed to put border security on the backburner for much of his presidency. Until recently, he has ignored the noise that Republicans have been making over border security and immigration in general.
Now, though, as the November election draws nearer, Biden is making a significant shift in that stance — making the border an apparent priority. This also comes after Republicans in Congress blocked a bipartisan border security deal that would’ve seen changes in immigration limits as well as foreign aid for multiple countries.
With that deal dead, the Senate turned to a foreign security aid bill only, one that would give Israel, Ukraine and other overseas allies billions of additional dollars in aid.
The White House said that during his visit to the border, Biden “will 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.”
The official added:
“He will reiterate his calls for Congressional Republicans to stop playing politics and to provide the funding needed for additional U.S. Border Patrol agents, more asylum officers, fentanyl detection technology and more.”
Karine Jean-Pierre, the press secretary for the White House, on Monday told reporters that Biden was planning to meet with agents of Border Patrol, but wouldn’t say if the president had plans to meet with any migrants.
When Biden visited El Paso more than a year ago, he didn’t meet with any migrants.
Jean-Pierre also didn’t mention whether Biden might announce a new executive order that would seek to address border security or immigration.
Meanwhile, Trump will make yet another trip to the southern border, which he visited multiple times not just as a presidential candidate but also while he was in the White House. Republican Governor Greg Abbott is one of his closest allies, as Trump has given a lot of his attention to the state and to immigration issues overall.
The former president’s campaign said Biden’s trip is a “last-minute, insincere attempt to chase President Trump to the border [and] won’t cut it.”
Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary for Trump’s campaign, also said Biden is solely responsible for the “worst immigration crisis in history.”
