This Sunday, President Joe Biden visited the southern border of the country. Since taking office two years ago, he had not visited the area despite the major crisis due to the number of illegal migrants entering the nation.
The President landed on Air Force One in El Paso, Texas, visited the Bridge of the Americas and the wall at Fort Bliss with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, local county court judge Ricardo Samaniego and El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser.
However, the president did not stay long at the site. In fact, the visit lasted only three hours, which caused a wave of complaints that Biden's visit was "little more than a photo op," as noted by the New York Post.
El presidente estadounidense, Joe Biden, calificó este domingo de "escandalosa" el asalto a edificios gubernamentales en Brasil por parte de una turba favorable al expresidente ultraderechista Jair Bolsonaro, durante un viaje a la frontera con México #AFP pic.twitter.com/AnnPiQGNCX
— Agence France-Presse (@AFPespanol) January 9, 2023
"We are really concerned that we need to sit down and have discussions, rather than photo shoots," Samaniego told the aforementioned media outlet.
A trip that happened "too late
Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott wrote a letter to Biden strongly criticizing the president's border policies and asking him to focus on federal immigration enforcement to improve the situation on the southern border.
Hand-delivered a letter to President Biden today during his first visit to the border.
His trip is $20 billion too little & 2 years too late.
I’m calling on Biden to do his constitutional duty to protect our nation. pic.twitter.com/cy8xgh5EJ2
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) January 8, 2023
Asimismo, Abbott aprovechó la carta para señalarle lo tardía que resultó la visita del mandatario y lo “esquiva” que fue. “Su viaje es $ 20 mil millones demasiado poco y 2 años demasiado tarde”, opinó, agregando que además la gira “esquiva a los miles de enojados dueños de propiedades en Texas cuyas vidas han sido destruidas por sus políticas fronterizas”.
Illegal Border Crossings to US From Mexico:
President Trump:
2017: 415,517 (lowest since 1971)
2018: 521,070
2019: 977,509
2020: 458,088President Biden:
2021: 1,734,686
2022: 2,378,944 (All-Time High)https://t.co/EvPajXd7w9— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) January 8, 2023
Cabe señalar que la crisis fronteriza ha alcanzado números rojos históricos. In fact, in 2022 alone, illegal border crossings from Mexico reached 2,378,944, an appallingly high number for the nation.
