EAGLE PASS, Texas – The Eagle Pass Border Coalition held a press conference on Thursday morning in response to former President and current presidential candidate Donald Trump’s visit there.
The press conference, which included immigration and community advocates, can be seen in the video player above.
On Thursday, Trump will visit Shelby Park in Eagle Pass — a hotspot in the state-federal clash over border security.
Trump, who frequently visited the border as president, is again making immigration a signature campaign issue as he seeks to return to the White House in November, according to the Associated Press.
Also on Thursday, President Joe Biden will head to Brownsville, about 325 miles away from Eagle Pass.
KSAT will livestream Biden’s remarks at a Border Patrol station at 3:30 p.m. San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg is also expected to be in attendance in Brownsville.
Illegal crossings on the U.S. border have been rising for years because of complicated reasons that include climate change, war and unrest in other nations, the economy, and cartels that see migration as a cash cow.
The numbers of migrants flowing to the U.S-Mexico border have far outpaced the capacity of an immigration system that has not been substantially updated in decades. Arrests for illegal crossings fell by half in January, but there were record highs in December.
Trump’s campaign called Biden’s plan to visit the border a sign that the president is on the defensive over immigration and said the issue is a problem for his reelection effort. Trump’s campaign press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said Biden was chasing Trump and is responsible for the “worst immigration crisis in history.”
Biden’s camp says it’s House Republicans who are on the defensive after Trump flatly said he told GOP legislators to tank the bill that would have funded border agents and other Homeland Security authorities.