Donald Trump and Joe Biden both go to the border with Mexico.

 

Donald Trump shakes hands with National Guard members. New York Post/AP.

Donald Trump and Joe Biden both went to the border with Mexico in dueling events. New York Post. Trump gave a speech at Eagle Pass, Texas with Governor Greg Abbott, where Abbott has deployed the National Guard and razor wire to deter illegal immigration. Trump said it was "like a war" and called on Biden to mention Laken Riley, a nursing student murdered by an illegal immigrant that was released before he could be deported. Trump said he would reinstate his border restrictions, including Title 42 and the remain in Mexico policy. 

Joe Biden meets with US Border Patrol agents. New York Post/AP

Joe Biden held his event at Brownsville Texas and called on Trump to work with him to pass the Senate's immigration bill which he claims would solve the issue. He also called for new resources for the Border Patrol and the Asylum system but did not announce any executive actions. Biden was asked about Laken Riley but did not respond to the question. 

My Comment:

The fact that both leading Presidential candidates showed up at the border today shows that the issue is likely to be the defining one for the 2024 election. It is always possible that something else could come up, after all, November is a long ways away yet and the world is a mess right now, but immigration looks to be even more important than it was in 2016. 

This does, of course, favor Donald Trump. Trump rode a wave of disgust on this issue to win in 2016 and he could absolutely do so again. Indeed, if Trump had focused on the border during his 2020 run, the Biden administration probably wouldn't have even happened. 

In 2020 I think Trump was a victim of his own success. Trump's border wall, remain in Mexico policy and Title 42 largely solved the issue of border crossers. We still had problems with illegal immigration, but those were mostly to do with people that were already here or were visa overstays. People of course remember this and can easily compare the rate of immigration in 2020 to what it is now and think that things were obviously better under Trump than Biden. 

As for Laken Riley, I haven't followed the story closely. I know the bare details of the case but I am far from an expert on it. It does reinforce something I have been saying for the last couple of weeks though. All crimes committed by illegal immigrants are preventable ones. Had her attacker been deported, like he should have been as he was a criminal who was in the country illegally, Riley would still be alive today. 

Biden does deserve criticism for her death. If we had a functional immigration system this would not have happened. Biden's immigration policy is his own fault and I don't buy his claims that he needs the Senate bill to do anything about the border. If he had simply left Trump's policies in place none of this would have been happening. 

But the first thing Biden did when he took the oath of office was repeal Trump's border policies. That's on him and him alone. He owns everything that happened because of that and it will absolutely hurt him in 2024. I don't think people will buy that it's Republicans fault for not passing a border bill that wouldn't help things in the first place. 

Regardless, I do think that this will be a major thing that turns out people to vote for Donald Trump. People are sick of illegal immigrants committing crimes, taking jobs and increasing the price of rent and they absolutely remember that this issue was mostly solved under Donald Trump. And Biden isn't going to be able to convince people that he cares about the issue unless he actually takes steps to deal with it beyond whining about Congress.