Texas Gov. Abbott greets Biden at border with frosty welcome letter trends now
The Republican governor of Texas delivered a frosty welcome to President Joe Biden in El Paso on Sunday, accusing him of opening the southern border to illegal immigrants and handing him a letter demanding that he take more action to tackle the crisis.
Gov. Greg Abbott also blasted Biden's visit — his first to the border as president — saying that the city had been cleaned up for his trip.
'President Biden's border visit today is to a sanitized version of El Paso,' he tweeted, referencing the way law enforcement agents have cleared out migrant camps in the city.
'He has no plans to enforce federal immigration laws. Biden's plan will only entice MORE illegal crossings.'
Gov. Greg Abbott welcomed President Joe Biden to El Paso, Texas, with a frosty letter demanding more action to tackle illegal immigration and accusing him of opening borders
Biden touched down in the border city around midday in what officials hoped was a chance to underscore his commitment to tackling illegal immigration.
Republicans have used record numbers of illegal arrivals to bludgeon the Biden administration for the first two years.
But any slight hopes that Republicans might welcome the president's attention to the issue quickly evaporated as Abbot could be seen on the asphalt handing a letter to the president.
'Under your watch ... America is suffering the worst illegal immigration in the history of our country,' it says.
'Your open-border policies have emboldened the cartels, who grow wealthy by trafficking deadly fentanyl and even human beings.'
Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents 18,000 agents, said the visit was too little, too late.
'You're barely — from wheels down to wheels up — there three hours,' he told DailyMail.com. 'You're barely going to get the scope of what is happening.'
President Joe Biden flew to El Paso, Texas, on Sunday morning, making his first visit to the border as president to see for himself the scale of the crisis
He flew with first lady Jill from his Delaware home to Joint Base Andrews, where she said goodbye. She is traveling separately to Mexico City, when her husband is attending a summit
He said his members had waited two years for a chance to explain to the president that the surge in illegal crossings meant they spent all their time on paperwork rather than protecting the border from drug smugglers and criminals.
Locals say Biden will not even see the worst of the problems they face, after border agents cleared out migrant camps.
En route to El Paso, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the number of people crossing the border had also dropped from its December peak.
'The number of people attempting to cross the border unlawfully in El Paso is now down by over 70 percent And that has been since mid December,' she said.
In the run-up to the visit, Biden said it was vital to expand legal immigration while limiting illegal immigration.
'Our border communities represent the best of our nation’s generosity and we’re going to get them more support while expanding legal pathways for orderly immigration and limiting illegal immigration,' he tweeted on Sunday.
Border officials detained a record 2.2 million migrants in the last full fiscal year.
And the issue has been used by Republicans to attack Biden throughout his presidency, accusing him of opening the country's borders.
The end of the year brought a surge in migrant arrivals to coincide with what was expected to be the end of Title 42, and its tough restrictions. El Paso declared an emergency
But on Saturday, the same streets had no sign of the migrants who had camped there
Border agents' union were dismissive of the visit to a cleaned-up El Paso in a Friday tweet
The Texas National Guard deployed along the border in El Paso at the end of last year. They are still there and have set up two miles of extra fencing with razor wire
Officials say their presence has forced migrants away from El Paso as they look to cross into
