WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Former President Donald Trump headed to the U.S.-Mexico border Wednesday to slam President Joe Biden’s handling of immigration issues.
A slate of conservative politicians including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott were expected to join Trump on his visit to the Rio Grande Valley. On the agenda was a tour of the border wall and a roundtable discussion on border security.
“Joe Biden is doing the exact opposite as we did,” Trump said a previous rally.
The Biden administration reversed his predecessor’s “Remain in Mexico” policy and stopped construction on the border wall. Abbott has vowed to finish the job on his own.
“(Trump) wants to go down there and offer his expertise and his solutions,” Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, said.
He and fellow Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, were also to be among the nearly a dozen Republicans by Trump’s side.
“You have Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement that feel completely abandoned by their commander in chief,” Arrington said.
Trump’s visit came just days after Vice President Kamala Harris was in El Paso amid mounting pressure from Republicans to deal with an influx of migrants at the southern border. She and Biden have launched a partnership with Central American nations to address the root causes of people fleeing those countries toward the U.S.
“This issues must be addressed,” Harris said on her trip. “Otherwise we’ll continue to see the effect: what is happening at the border.”
Democrats criticized Trump’s visit, calling it a spectacle designed to undermine Biden and rev up the Trump base ahead of the next election cycle.
Trump has announced several rallies in upcoming months.
