(TheRedWire.com) – Since President Joe Biden took office, Republicans have been demanding that he take a trip to the southern border. On Sunday, Biden fulfilled that wish with his first visit to El Paso, Texas. However, the visit did not turn out to be as enlightening as officials might have hoped.
When it comes to the border crisis, there is an important difference between the two parties. While the Republicans want to secure the border by stopping all illegal immigrants from crossing the border, the Democrats are looking to create programs and policies that will help facilitate entry into the country in a legal way.
To understand this discourse even further, two key moments from Biden’s visit should be pointed out. Firstly, as Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott pointed out in the letter he handed to Trump when the two met on the tarmac, El Paso had been cleared of all evidence of immigrants being in the city. This “sanitized” version of the border crisis was part of an attempt to not bring to Biden’s attention anything unpleasant. However, this is not the version of the city that those in El Paso have to deal with daily. Biden used this as evidence that new policies needed to be put in place to stop the surge of illegal immigrants.
On the other hand, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas pointed out after the visit that the Biden administration’s new policy, which would allow immigrants to use a phone app in order to create an appointment that would allow them to legally enter the country was going to bring positive changes as it would help reduce the waiting in the border. As Mayorkas points out, the focus is on creating a safe and orderly way to help them enter the country without them having to resort to smuggling organizations.
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