President Joe Biden made his first visit to the U.S.-Mexico border as president on Sunday, but he did not appear to see or interact with migrants.
Biden spent several hours in El Paso on his first visit to the southern border as president, despite rising outrage and accusations that he had not yet seen firsthand the crisis caused by the unprecedented number of migrants journeying to the border.
The president's convoy arrived by driving down a roadway that parallels the Rio Grande and the border. As the convoy drove down the roadway, an iron-slatted fence with barbed wire at the top was to the left.
Biden came to a stop and stayed for several minutes near the iron barrier between the U.S. and Mexico, speaking with cops in green uniforms. The group then proceeded to walk alongside the fence's dirt road.
Biden reacted to a few reporters' inquiries by declaring that the government will offer every resource required at the border.
Asked to describe the reasoning behind having Biden visit this specific center and yet without meeting or dealing with any migrants there, a senior administration official told CNN: "There just weren't any at the center when he arrived. Completely coincidental. They haven't had any today."
The timing of Biden's trip coincided with a sharp decline in border crossings in El Paso. Republicans who felt the trip was overdue made repeated appeals to make the trip.
Biden has come under fire from Republicans as well as a few border-district Democrats in Congress and even Democratic mayors for neglecting to address the record number of border crossings.
Biden has faced a pressing dilemma as a result of the widespread migration across the Western Hemisphere. During his first few months in office, he dealt with a surge of unaccompanied migrant children at the border as well as the sudden arrival of thousands of Haitian migrants.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, there have been more than 2.4 million arrests along the U.S.-Mexico border since 2021. This includes persons who have attempted to cross multiple times. Many people have been turned away as a result of Title 42.
While the policy remains in effect, the administration revealed intentions to expand it to encompass Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Cubans ahead of Biden's border visit. So far, Title 42 has mostly applied to migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Venezuela.
The comments made by Biden on Thursday reflect the administration's efforts to prepare for the end of Title 42, as well as to put systems in place to manage the increase of migrants that has coincided with the expected termination of the policy.
Under a humanitarian parole program targeted at people from Nicaragua, Cuba, Haiti, and Venezuela, the administration will now take in up to 30,000 migrants from those countries each month.
