'A pitched battle': Trump and Biden duel over 'broken immigration system' at Southern border

29 February 2024

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are both planning to visit the U.S./Mexico border in Texas on Thursday, February 29. Biden is going to Brownsville, while Trump — the likely GOP nominee in the 2024 presidential race — is going to the town of Eagle Pass, which has become the epicenter of the border fracas between the Supreme Court and the GOP.

In a report for the Washington Post, journalist Arelis R. Hernández emphasizes that the presidential candidates' visits underscore their differences on immigration policy as well as the differences between Brownsville and Eagle Pass. Former Democratic Texas state representative Poncho Nevárez told the Post that the Southern border "may be the fulcrum for who becomes the next president."

"They benefit from this psychosis of the locals who say they are overwhelmed," Nevárez said. "Trump sees that if there is going to be a pitched battle on this issue that he wants to be at the flash point."

Hernández describes Brownsville as a "Democratic stronghold" in a state that leans Republican on the whole. Brownsville, according to the Post reporter, is "in sync with" the Democratic Party's "traditional approach to immigration, balancing border security with humanitarian considerations."

Meanwhile, Eagle Pass, Hernández notes, symbolizes "anxieties" about the influx of migrants into Texas. And Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has responded to those concerns with his controversial Operation Lone Star program.

"Texas has filled the vacuum — with troops, razor wire, buses, border wall and Humvees," Hernández explains. "But it has come at a cost: Eagle Pass, in essence, has become occupied territory. State troops seized Shelby Park — a critical stretch of riverfront land — and shut out U.S. Border Patrol agents. City leaders voted not to pursue legal action because they can’t afford it."

The Post reporter notes that although "Brownsville is friendlier territory for Biden," the Democratic president has "kept in place many of his predecessor's policies and signaled a willingness to adopt more hardline measures that blur the distinctions between his administration and Trump's."

Venezuelan university professor Erick Camejo is among the migrants in Brownsville who is hoping to meet Biden during his visit. Camejo, according to Hernández, is "seeking political asylum" in the United States "after defying" leftist Venezuelan "strongman Nicolás Maduro and losing his job."

Camejo told the Post, "What fault do I bear for a broken immigration system? I needed help, and this country gave me that chance."

The Washington Post's full report is available at this link (subscription required).

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