President Joe Biden, second from the right, looks over the southern border, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Brownsville, Texas. Walking with Biden are from l-r., Peter Flores, Deputy Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Jason Owens, Chief, U.S. Border Patrol and Gloria Chavez, Sector Chief, U.S. Border Patrol. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump talks with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott during a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)President Joe Biden arrives at Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport for a trip to visit the southern border, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Brownsville, Texas. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump listens as he visits the boat ramp at Shelby Park during a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)In this combination of photos, President Joe Biden, left, speaks on Aug. 10, 2023, in Salt Lake City, and former President Donald Trump speaks on June 13, 2023, in Bedminster, N.J. Biden and Trump will make dueling trips to the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, following the failed border deal that was opposed by the Republican front-runner. (AP Photo)A member of the National Guard directs a vehicle at the gate to Shelby Park along the Rio Grande, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas. Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit the area Thursday. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)FILE - Migrants who crossed the Rio Grande and entered the U.S. from Mexico are lined up for processing by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Sept. 23, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas. A federal judge on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 blocked a new Texas law that gives police broad powers to arrest migrants suspected of illegally entering the U.S., dealing a victory to the Biden administration in its feud with Republican Gov. Greg Abbott over immigration enforcement. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, file)
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
President Joe Biden, second from the right, looks over the southern border, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Brownsville, Texas. Walking with Biden are from l-r., Peter Flores, Deputy Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Jason Owens, Chief, U.S. Border Patrol and Gloria Chavez, Sector Chief, U.S. Border Patrol. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden arrived Thursday in Texas at the U.S.-Mexico border in a sign of how central immigration has become to the 2024 election.
Biden, who wants to spotlight how Republicans tanked a bipartisan border security deal on Trump’s orders, went to the Rio Grande Valley city of Brownsville.
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For nine years, this was the busiest corridor for illegal crossings, but they have dropped sharply in recent months.
“Brownsville, Texas, is a very good glimpse of how dynamic and challenging that migration phenomenon is," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said from Air Force One.
Among those voters, worries about the nation’s broken immigration system are rising on both sides of the political divide, which could be especially problematic for Biden.
According to an AP-NORC poll in January, the share of voters concerned about immigration rose to 35% from 27% last year. Fifty-five percent of Republicans say the government needs to focus on immigration in 2024, while 22% of Democrats listed immigration as a priority. That’s up from 45% and 14%, respectively, from December 2022.
The number of people who are illegally crossing the U.S. border has been rising for years for complicated reasons that include climate change, war and unrest in other nations, the economy, and cartels that see migration as a cash cow.
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