JUAREZ, CHIH – On his first trip to the El Paso, Texas region, President Joe Biden toured a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday, where he inspected the busy Cordova-Americas Port of Entry and visited one of the sites set up as a migrant shelter.
While in El Paso, the President assessed law enforcement operations at the Bridge of the Americas Port of Entry, which is El Paso’s busiest port.
The port recently received $600 million through the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Act to strengthen and expand the port to facilitate and increase trade, security and processing.
Following the port visit, President Biden visited a federally funded immigrant services center. In addition to holding a meeting with local officials, religious leaders and NGOs who have been instrumental in supporting migrants fleeing political oppression and economic collapse in their home countries.
At his first stop, the president watched as border agents in El Paso demonstrated how they search vehicles for drugs, money and other contraband. He then walked along a metal border fence separating the U.S. city from Ciudad Juarez.
His last stop was the El Paso County Migrant Services Center. Biden’s nearly four-hour visit to El Paso was tightly controlled.
In a sign of the deepening tensions over immigration, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, handed Biden a letter as soon as he landed in the state that said the “chaos” at the border was a “direct result” of the president’s inability to enforce federal laws.
El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego welcomed Biden’s visit, but said a current lull in arrivals prevented the president from seeing how large the group of new arrivals has been.
The President also heard from local business leaders about the critical economic impact immigrants have on this region to address labor shortages.
Throughout the day, the President was accompanied by federal, state and local officials and community leaders, including Customs and Border Protection officials, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, Congressman Henry Cuellar, Congressman Vicente Gonzalez, and El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser.
From Texas, Biden headed to Mexico City, where he and the leaders of Mexico and Canada will meet Monday and Tuesday at a summit of North American leaders. Immigration is one of the items on the agenda.
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