President Biden’s upcoming trip to the U.S.-Mexico border is “too little, too late,” the head of the Border Patrol union said Monday, insisting that the visit is primarily aimed at improving conditions ahead of the November election. .
“Everything he does is too little, too late,” Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said on Fox News.
“He had three years to do what was necessary to secure the border. He had three years to formulate policy,” the union chief continued. “It’s only eight months until the election, and now he seems interested. He’s only interested in the election because it’s selfish and he wants to save himself.”
“But the truth of the matter is, yes, he can stop this trend tomorrow.”
Judd said that if Biden, 81, were to reach a deal with Mexico to re-implement the so-called “Remain in Mexico” policy, it would significantly reduce the record number of migrants overwhelming cities across Mexico. claimed that it could be done. The asylum seekers will be awaiting hearings in U.S. immigration court south of the border.
But union leaders say Mr. Biden is reluctant to do so because it doesn’t appeal to his most ardent supporters.
“He doesn’t want that. It goes against his base,” Judd said. “If you look at his base, even though he’s trailing in the polls, 30% still think he’s doing the right thing on border security.”
“That’s his stronghold. Those people vote, and he doesn’t want to run against them. So he’s throwing his hands up, rather than implementing the appropriate policies that he now has the authority to do. They want to blame Congress.”
White House officials said President Biden is scheduled to “visit Brownsville, Texas, to meet with U.S. Border Patrol agents, law enforcement and local leaders” on Thursday, making the president’s first border visit in the past year. He said it was the first time since March.
“The president will discuss the urgent need to pass a bipartisan border security agreement in the Senate, the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border in decades,” the official added. Ta.
“He will once again call on Congressional Republicans to stop playing politics and provide needed funding for additional U.S. Border Patrol agents, more asylum workers, fentanyl detection technology, and more.”
The visit reportedly comes as the president considers whether to use executive authority to tighten asylum standards and deny immigrants seeking entry to the United States.
Judd said the administration is unlikely to make any major changes in its response to the crisis at the southern border, given multiple interactions with impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“He just wasn’t interested in doing anything,” Judd said of his conversations with Mayorkas, who heads the department that oversees Border Patrol agents.
“There’s a lot this administration can do. I spoke directly to Mr. Mayorkas about this. He refused to hear any of it. And Biden will refuse to listen to it tomorrow.”
The National Border Patrol Council represents approximately 18,000 Border Patrol agents and support personnel and maintains a 90% membership rate of eligible personnel.
More than 7 million migrants have been encountered by Border Patrol agents along the southern border under the Biden administration, including 961,537 this fiscal year, according to CBP data.
