The president, on the defensive over immigration, is planning to travel to Texas on Thursday, when Donald J. Trump is also set to visit a border city.
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President Biden has struggled to reassure voters on immigration, with border crossings rising and polls showing that voters who disapprove of him cite the issue more than any other as a reason.
President Biden is planning to make a rare visit to the southern border on Thursday, according to two people briefed on the plans, traveling to Brownsville, Texas, on the same day that former President Donald J. Trump has already scheduled a border trip.
The plans underscore the urgency now propelling Mr. Biden and his team on immigration, which has become one of his most serious political liabilities. Under the Biden administration, record numbers of migrants have crossed the southern border — a fact that Mr. Trump and Republicans have wielded aggressively against Mr. Biden.
A majority of Americans disapprove of Mr. Biden’s job performance, and polls show that voters who disapprove of him cite immigration more than any other policy issue as a reason.
On his Thursday trip to Brownsville, Mr. Biden plans to meet with Border Patrol, law enforcement and local officials, according to a person briefed on the matter.
Mr. Biden has been weighing whether to announce executive actions that would essentially prevent those who cross the border from claiming asylum, but he is not expected to announce any new executive action on his Thursday visit, the person said. It remains unclear what time of day he will travel, or whether he will make public remarks.
Mr. Trump will visit Eagle Pass in Texas on Thursday. CNN reported the planned trip last week. Mr. Trump plans to deliver remarks from the border to highlight the immigration crisis and lay blame at the feet of Mr. Biden, according to a person close to Mr. Trump who was not authorized to discuss the plans publicly.
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Source: nytimes.com
