Former President Donald Trump has prioritized border security and immigration law enforcement as key issues in his campaign for a second term in the White House, and he amplified that message this week with another visit to the border.
🚨Trump meets with Texas National Guard during Eagle Pass, TX border visit
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 29, 2024
Appearing in Eagle Pass, Texas, an area that has seen an especially high number of illegal border crossings in the years since President Joe Biden was inaugurated, Trump recounted what some of the officials tasked with addressing the issue told him about the ongoing crisis.
The GOP primary front-runner accused Biden of “destroying our country” by repealing several Trump-era border policies and essentially refusing to enforce existing laws that would have reduced the record rate of illegal immigration over the past three years.
“We were just talking before, the general was saying he can’t believe what’s happening,”
Trump said. “They can’t believe it’s so sad. Last year, almost half of all [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] arrests were criminal aliens charged for more than 33,000 assaults, 3,000 robberies, 6,900 burglaries, 7,500 weapons crimes — this is all migrant crime — 4,300 sex crimes, 1,600 kidnappings and 1,700 homicides and murders.”
Expressing outrage over the unchecked flow of potentially dangerous individuals entering communities nationwide, Trump asserted: “These are the people that are coming into our country and they’re coming from jails and they’re coming from prisons and they’re coming from mental institutions and they’re coming from insane asylums and they’re terrorists.”
He also brought up the case of University of Georgia student Laken Riley, who was found dead near campus last month, and the 26-year-old undocumented migrant arrested on suspicion of killing her.
Trump described the suspect as a “monster illegal alien migrant” who had been “released into the country” by the Biden administration.
Following Trump’s announcement of his intention to visit the border on Thursday, Biden issued a statement of his own indicating that he would be traveling to Brownsville, Texas, on the same day.
Once again attempting to shirk responsibility for the border crisis that intensified exponentially under his watch, Biden pointed a finger at Republicans who oppose what they view as a deeply flawed bill being pushed in the Senate.
“Folks, it’s time to act,” he said. “It’s long past time to act.”
