Both President Biden and President Trump will travel to the southern border on Thursday in an attempt to define themselves as the person most capable of handling the migrant crisis. 

Mr. Biden will travel to Brownsville on the southern tip of Texas, which has seen lower levels of illegal crossings than other regions in recent weeks, according to Fox News’ Bill Melugin. Mr. Trump will visit Eagle Pass, Texas — a part of the Rio Grande Valley that has been particularly hard-hit in recent years by illegal crossings. 

In January 2024, the number of monthly encounters fell sharply to just over 150,000 but remained at historic highs. The total encounters were down from more than 300,000 in December, according to Customs and Border Patrol. 

A Biden administration source tells USA Today that the incumbent will stress the “urgent need” for Congress to pass more comprehensive immigration and border security legislation. 

“He will reiterate his calls for congressional Republicans to stop playing politics and to provide the funding needed for additional U.S. Border Patrol agents, more asylum officers, fentanyl detection technology and more,” the official told the outlet. 

Mr. Trump recently urged congressional Republicans to scuttle a bipartisan border security deal negotiated in the Senate. He and Speaker Johnson had been talking on the phone on a near-daily basis about the package before the speaker ultimately declared it “dead on arrival” in the lower chamber. 

Mr. Biden had asked Congress to pass the bill to give him new authority to restrict crossings. He went so far as to say that if Congress sent the measure to his desk, he would order a “shut down right now” at the border. 

The migrant crisis has become especially salient in recent months as the former president campaigns heavily on his promise to institute “the largest domestic deportation operation” in American history. At the end of 2023, there was a record number of illegal migrants in America who had been ordered to leave, but had yet to do so. 

Crimes committed by migrants have also captured the nation’s attention. In February, a group of at least eight migrants — two of whom were confirmed members of a violent Venezuelan gang — attacked two police officers in New York before being let out by a judge without bail following their arrests. 

Another Venezuelan migrant has been accused of murdering a Georgia nursing student for no apparent reason while she was going for a jog. 

Back home in Venezuela, the violence rate has fallen to historic lows as both perpetrators and victims of violent crime have fled the country, according to Bloomberg.