President Biden to Visit Texas-Mexico Border Sunday, Announces Immigration Reform Plan

On Sunday President Joe Biden will make his first visit to the Texas-Mexico border since becoming president.

According to a statement from the White House, Biden will travel to El Paso and "will assess border enforcement operations and meet with local elected officials and community leaders who have been important partners in managing the historical number of migrants fleeing political oppression and gang violence in Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Cuba."

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who has long criticized the president for his "open border policies" and for not visiting the border personally, has not yet issued a statement on the president's visit. Vice President Kamala Harris visited El Paso, in June 2021 and was criticized for choosing a location too far from the epicenter of border crossings that were straining federal resources.

That border has seen massive increases in migrants even as a U.S. public health law remains in place that allows American authorities to turn away many people who are seeking asylum in the United States. Republican leaders have criticized the president for policies that they say are ineffective on border security and questioned why he has not made a trip there yet.

Immigration will be among the top talking points at the summit Monday and Tuesday when Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador hosts Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The Biden administration has yet to lay out any systemic changes to manage an expected surge of migrants should the restrictions end. In Congress, a bipartisan immigration bill was buried shortly before Republicans assumed control of the House.

BIDEN TOUGHENS BORDER, OFFERS LEGAL PATH FOR 30,000 PER MONTH

Biden said Thursday the U.S. would immediately begin turning away Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans who cross the border from Mexico illegally, his boldest move yet to confront the arrivals of migrants that have spiraled since he took office two years ago.

Homeland Security officials said they would begin denying asylum to those who circumvent legal pathways and do not first ask for asylum in the country they traveled through en route to the U.S.

Instead, the U.S. will accept 30,000 people per month from the four nations for two years and offer the ability to work legally, as long as they come legally, have eligible sponsors and pass vetting and background checks. Border crossings by migrants from those four nations have risen most sharply, with no easy way to quickly return them to their home countries.

The new rules expand on an existing effort to stop Venezuelans attempting to enter the U.S., which began in October and led to a dramatic drop in Venezuelans coming to the southern border. Together, they represent a major change to immigration rules that will stand even if the Supreme Court ends a Trump-era public health law that allows U.S. authorities to turn away asylum-seekers.

“Do not, do not just show up at the border,” Biden said as he announced the changes, even as he acknowledged the hardships that lead many families to make the dangerous journey north. “Stay where you are and apply legally from there."

Biden made the announcement Thursday, just days before the visit to El Paso.

MEXICO ARRESTS SON OF 'EL CHAPO' AHEAD OF BIDEN VISIT

On Thursday, Mexican security forces announced they'd captured Ovidio Guzmán, an alleged drug trafficker wanted by the United States and one of the sons of former Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, in a pre-dawn operation that set off gunfights and roadblocks across the western state’s capital.

The high-profile capture comes just days before López Obrador will host U.S. President Joe Biden for bilateral talks followed by a North American Leaders’ Summit with Biden and Canadian Primer Minister Justin Trudeau. Drug trafficking, along with immigration, is expected to be a top talking point for the leaders.