TEXAS — The White House on Monday announced President Joe Biden on Thursday will visit the Texas border city of Brownsville. The city, located in the Rio Grande Valley, has seen many border crossings.

What You Need To Know

  • President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit the Texas border city of Brownsville on Thursday. Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, will visit Eagle Pass, Texas, on Thursday

  • Biden, according to the White House, will meet with border agents and discuss the need for bipartisan legislation

  • The president of the Border Patrol union, in a statement to Fox News, criticized Biden’s trip to the U.S.-Mexico border as “too little, too late”

  • The trips underscore immigration’s central importance in the 2024 presidential race, for Republicans and increasingly for Democrats, particularly after congressional talks on a deal to rein in illegal migration collapsed

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden will meet with border agents and discuss the need for bipartisan legislation. This will mark his second visit to the U.S.-Mexico border. He visited El Paso, Texas, in January 2023.

Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, on Thursday will visit Eagle Pass, Texas, about 325 miles from Brownsville. Eagle Pass has also seen a lot of border crossings and is the epicenter of Texas’ battle with the Biden administration over border enforcement.

On Monday, Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, in a statement to Fox News, criticized Biden’s planned trip as “too little, too late.”

“Unfortunately, a visit by President Biden three years into his term and after repeatedly stating there is no crisis is too little, too late. Whether stating it himself or through WH Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre, Biden has said he’s done everything he can to secure the border,” Judd wrote. “If that was the truth, and it wasn’t, there would be no point in visiting the border now.”

The trips underscore immigration’s central importance in the 2024 presidential race, for Republicans and increasingly for Democrats, particularly after congressional talks on a deal to rein in illegal migration collapsed.

Gilberto Hinojosa, president of the Texas Democratic Party, praised Biden’s trip and took aim at Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

“Texas Democrats are honored to welcome President Joe Biden to my hometown of Brownsville this week. And while the President addresses bipartisan border security funding solutions with local officials, Border Patrol and law enforcement – Donald Trump will visit Greg Abbott’s movie set and boast about how he killed the toughest and fairest border security bill in decades,” Hinojosa wrote. “It’s a stark contrast: Biden is working to tackle border issues head on while Trump indulges in self-promotion as usual.”

The number of people who are illegally crossing the U.S. border has 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.