President Biden visits El Paso, Gov. Abbott hands him letter criticizing border policies
EL PASO, Texas - President Joe Biden visited El Paso Sunday afternoon, his first trip to the border since taking office.
As he landed, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott hand-delivered a letter to the president.
"He’s two years and about twenty billion dollars too late," Abbott said.
Gov. Abbott called on the president to enforce immigration laws. Last month, the Mayor of El Paso declared a state of emergency. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported a peak of 2,500 migrant encounters a day in the city.
"There are solutions to fix all this that already exist in federal law and all you all have to do is to ensure that the president complies with current United States law by securing the border by enforcing current immigration laws which allow for the containment and deportation of people who come into the United States illegally," Abbott said.
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While on the trip, President Biden assessed border enforcement operations at the Bridge of Americas Port of Entry, visited a migrant services center, and met with members of Congress, local officials, and faith and community leaders.
Abbott said in the letter given to the president, "Your visit avoids the sites where mass illegal immigration occurs and sidesteps the thousands of angry Texas property owners whose lives have been destroyed by your border policies."
"There were thousands of migrants sleeping on the streets in El Paso that have been cleaned up in the past couple days and I ask him to go see the areas where we have these mass migration passings and go visit with the people who own property on the border whose lives have been totally disrupted," Abbott said.
The Bidens are now headed to Mexico City where the U.S., Canadian, and Mexican heads of state are holding a North American Summit starting Monday.