President Biden heads here on Sunday to tour an American border city swamped by migrants, he has found himself under siege from all sides.
Democrats and human rights activists condemned his new enforcement plan as a “humanitarian disgrace.” Republicans blasted his two-year delay in coming to a border they say is “wide open” to illegal immigration. And Mexican officials — who are preparing to welcome him to a summit of North American leaders on Monday — warned that his proposals would cross a “red line” for them.
In El Paso, a record-breaking surge of migration from across Central and South America has made the city one of the most vivid symbols of the decades-long breakdown in America’s immigration system. Desperate people, often with small children, spend cold nights on park benches, with no legal status and nowhere to go after making the brutally dangerous trek north in the hopes of finding refuge.
The question of what to do with them — Accept them? Detain them? Send them home? — has become one of the most polarized political debates in the United States. And Mr. Biden has not found a solution during his presidency as the situation in El Paso and communities along the border has worsened.
On Sunday, Mr. Biden will meet with Border Patrol officers, members of Congress and local officials at the Bridge of the Americas Port of Entry, El Paso’s busiest crossing, which is set to receive $600 million from the president’s infrastructure law. He will also tour the El Paso County Migrant Services Center and talk with local busin
Responding to mounting criticism of his handling of the border, Mr. Biden on Thursday announced a crackdown on illegal border crossings paired with some new avenues for migrants to immigrate legally. At the White House, he said his changes would “help us a good deal in better managing what is a difficult challenge.”
More on U.S. Immigration
- Border Crossings: President Biden announced a far-reaching crackdown on people who seek refuge at the border with Mexico, dramatically expanding restrictions on asylum.
- New Citizens: Nearly one million immigrants became Americans in 2022, after the pandemic prevented hundreds of thousands of people from voting in the 2020 election.
- In Texas: A scandal-plagued private border fence at the border with Mexico is essentially orphaned, functionally useless and, engineers found, at risk of floating away in a flood.
- Tech Workers: As cutbacks batter the tech industry, some foreigners on work visas are facing a daunting prospect: having to leave the United States unless they are hired within 60 days of being laid off