President Joe Biden faced pleas for help in addressing the migrant crisis as he traveled Sunday to the U.S.-Mexico border for the first time since taking office, visiting El Paso, where migrants are sleeping on the streets.
Biden walked along a section of the rust-colored border wall that separates El Paso from Juarez, Mexico, and met with local officials, community leaders, and others who are dealing daily with the humanitarian crisis.
“They need a lot of resources,” he told reporters who asked what he learned. “We’re going to get it for them.”
Biden’s trip, which lasted about four hours, comes amid criticism from Republicans and some Democratic lawmakers that he hasn’t done enough to address a surge of migrants at the southern border. From Texas, Biden departed for Mexico City for meetings with North American leaders on immigration and other issues.
The number of migrants crossing the border – some lawfully seeking asylum, others entering illegally – has risen dramatically during Biden’s first two years in office. El Paso is currently the biggest corridor for illegal crossings, due in part to Nicaraguans fleeing repression, crime and poverty in their country. Last month, El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser declared a state of emergency in response to the crisis.
As he stepped off Air Force One on Sunday, Biden was greeted by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, one of the fiercest critics of the administration’s border policies. Abbott handed Biden a letter dismissing his visit as a series of carefully staged photo ops and outlining five steps the administration could take to secure the border, including immediately resuming construction of the border wall in Texas.
Meanwhile, at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in the historic Segundo Barrio in the city’s downtown, a mix of uncertainty, hope and fear remained among the hundreds of migrants camped outside.
Men, women and small children – mostly men, many from Venezuela – staying at the church are in limbo, unable to continue to the U.S. interior and afraid they will be detained by U.S. Border Patrol if they leave the church area.
TYT Newsroom
