President Joe Biden will make a rare trip to the southern border with Mexico this Thursday, the same day that former President Donald Trump — his main contender in the November election — also plans to visit the border.
The president will travel to Brownsville, Texas, at a time when the immigration crisis is gaining more weight among the electorate and his management of the border remains under scrutiny.
Biden will meet there with Border Patrol agents, law enforcement and local leaders, the White House said in a statement Monday.
“He will reiterate his calls for Republicans in Congress to stop playing politics and approve the funds necessary to assign additional Border Patrol agents, more asylum officers, fentanyl detection technology and more,” the statement detailed.
Two sources familiar with Trump's plans told NBC News that the former president will deliver a speech in Eagle Pass, Texas, about 330 miles from where Biden will be.
Biden last visited the southern border in January 2023, which was his first trip to the area as president.
The immigration crisis is a crucial issue for the electorate in the United States ahead of the presidential elections in November 2024. Getty Images
According to a source cited by The New York Times, Trump plans to use crimes allegedly committed by immigrants in New York and other cities in recent weeks as part of his speech on Thursday.
The trips of both politicians come a week before Super Tuesday on March 5, when more than a dozen states hold primary elections.