(VitalNews.org) – On January 8, President Joe Biden traveled to El Paso, Texas, on his first official visit to the southern border as POTUS. The US leader stayed for a few hours touring the area and talking with various officials before boarding Air Force One to continue his trip to Mexico City, where he was expected to discuss immigration.
When the president arrived in Texas, the state’s governor, Greg Abbott (R-TX), went onto the tarmac and handed Biden a letter outlining his feelings about the long-awaited visit. The Lone Star State leader opened the correspondence by telling the Commander in Chief his arrival was “too little and two years too late.” Abbott said Biden should have visited cities struggling at the border, saying the move was just for show.
Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) was one of many who also chimed in on Twitter, saying the president’s visit was nothing more than a check in the box that will do nothing to help resolve any border problems.
Republicans blast Biden border visit as a 'box-checking exercise' https://t.co/IgsXZO9tpJ pic.twitter.com/ECZpGHrU9L
— New York Post (@nypost) January 9, 2023
Ever since Biden took his seat in the White House, Republicans have been calling for him to visit the border so he could see the crisis happening there first-hand. In March 2021, after Biden had spent just two months in office, now-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said the president created the problems at the border and he needed to fix them. Still, Biden stayed away for nearly two years.
On January 5, as the fate of Title 42 hangs in the balance, Biden announced new immigration enforcement measures. He included three additional countries to the administration’s parole process used for Venezuelan migrants. He also announced that Mexico agreed to take 30,000 expelled people per month from those areas.
Regardless of the president’s recent visit, many Republicans feel the measures were long overdue and still believe the border is too open.
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