China News Service, March 1 (Chen Caixia) February 29 is the last day of February, and it is also a rare day for the American media to say that the current President Biden and the former President Trump are here together. One day visit to the US-Mexico border.

　　According to analysts, this eye-catching schedule is a "coincidence" that reflects the "head-to-head confrontation" between Biden and Trump on one of the hottest issues in the 2024 US election - immigration, in an all-out effort to compete for votes.

Data map: US President Biden.

Biden: 'I didn't know my good friend was going too'

　　On the 29th local time, US President Biden arrived in Brownsville, southern Texas.

According to reports, this is his second visit to the US-Mexico border since taking office as President of the United States in January 2021.

　　Biden met with patrol agents and other law enforcement officials at the border before delivering a speech urging Republicans to stop blocking his immigration reform plan.

　　"Coincidentally", Trump also arrived in Texas on the 29th, and his destination was Eagle Pass, 530 kilometers away from Brownsville.

　　"Obviously what I didn't know was that my good friend was also going." Previously, Biden said that his "good friend" referred to Trump.

　　The report pointed out that this trip highlights the urgent concern of Biden and his team on the immigration issue, which has become one of the main political challenges he faces.

　　Biden directly addressed Trump in his speech that day, calling for joint efforts to push Congress to pass the immigration bill.

"You and I both know that this is the strictest, most efficient, most effective border security bill in the history of our country. Instead of playing politics on this issue, why don't we work together to push it through?" Biden said.

　　According to the latest research from the Pew Research Center, 45% of Americans regard the border issue as a "crisis" and 32% call it a "major problem."

Polls show that most Americans disapprove of Biden's job performance, with opponents often citing immigration.

　　Analysts believe that Biden's attitude has been continuously "turning to the right" recently in an attempt to change his image on immigration issues.

According to CNN, Biden is urging Congress to take action to address the influx of immigrants into the United States.

In addition, he also considered using the power of the president to take executive measures and promised to "temporarily close the border."

Data map: Former US President Trump.

　　Trump: 'He just had to go'

　　Texas is also known as the "eye of the storm" for illegal immigration.

Before Biden and Trump even left, the two sides were already engaged in a "war of words" from a distance.

　　Regarding the news that the two people's schedules "collided", Trump's campaign spokesperson Carolyn Leavitt said in a statement that Biden decided at the last minute to "follow" Trump's footsteps and come to the border. , such efforts are disingenuous and will not help solve the problem.

"Not because they really want to solve the problem, but because they know Biden is going to lose badly."

　　According to US media reports, after arriving in Eagle Pass, Trump said, "The weather is great, a beautiful day, but the border is very dangerous and we will take care of it." The Trump campaign described the border as "criminal" Live," and said Trump would "outline his plan to put America first and secure our borders as soon as he takes office."

　　Public information shows that Texas has a special location. About half of the border between the United States and Mexico is in Texas. The issue of illegal immigration has long been a pain point for the Texas government and a "regular trouble" since Biden took office as president.

　　Data from the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee show that fiscal year 2023 was the worst year in history for U.S. border issues. More than 3.2 million illegal immigrants were deported or arrested, and about three-quarters occurred on the southwest border.

In December 2023 alone, a record number of more than 300,000 illegal immigrants tried to cross the US-Mexico border.

　　But as president, Biden has made only a handful of visits to the U.S.-Mexico border.

According to US media reports, on January 8, 2023, Biden visited the Texas border city of El Paso for an inspection.

US media noted that Biden only stayed there for about four hours, and the entire process was under "high control" and no immigrants were seen at all.

Many Republicans accused Biden's visit of being "just a check-in show."

Data map: On May 11, 2023 local time, immigrants gathered at the US-Mexico border in Tijuana, Mexico.

　　Continuous battle of wits

　　Is immigration disrupting the US election?

　　In recent years, the illegal immigration problem in the United States has become increasingly serious.

Especially after Biden took office, he overturned the strict immigration policies during the Trump era, causing a sharp increase in the number of illegal immigrants.

The Republican Party is playing the "immigration card", and immigration has gradually become a key issue in the 2024 presidential election.

　　Recently, Texas and the federal government have been fighting over immigration issues, with the Texas National Guard and federal law enforcement officers having a tense confrontation over the removal of barbed wire fences.

Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas, even publicly challenged the federal government. Subsequently, 25 Republican governors issued a joint statement publicly supporting Abbott and Texas' "right to self-defense."

　　On February 13, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas, indicating that the partisan dispute between the Democrats and Republicans over immigration issues has further intensified.

　　Analysts say that in the context of the 2024 US presidential election, the issue of illegal immigration has become a "focus" for the Republican Party to violently attack Biden.

　　Regarding how to solve the immigration crisis, the U.S. political news website "Politico" stated that the plan currently being discussed by the White House includes using some provisions of the "Immigration and Nationality Act" to prohibit illegal immigrants from seeking asylum at ports of entry. The prerequisite for this to take effect is that illegal immigrants reach a certain level. Quantity, this provision overlaps with an immigration bill that was previously rejected by the House of Representatives.

　　Luis DeScipio, a professor of political science and Chicano Latinos at the University of California, Irvine, said Biden's shift in immigration policy could indeed attract moderates and independents among voters, but it risks alienating voters within the Democratic Party. This is the first time I've seen such divisions within the Democratic Party on immigration. Biden is walking a tightrope on immigration."

　　Multiple U.S. polls show that in addition to the economy, immigration has become Biden's main "political weakness."

According to a previous joint survey by ABC and the Washington Post, Biden's approval rating on the immigration issue is only about 18%, the lowest for any president since the poll began in 2004.

　　Trump is currently leading the Republican primary.

Building a border wall was one of Trump's key campaign promises during the 2016 presidential election, attracting a large number of anti-immigration conservatives.

In 2024, after making a comeback, he will still take "Biden's border crisis" as a core campaign issue, saying that "border issues are politically important as never before."

　　As the campaign unfolds, the "smell of gunpowder" between the Democratic and Republican parties in the United States has become increasingly intense.

However, for many Americans, what they don’t want to see even more is perhaps another confrontation between Trump and Biden.

"They will only fight and fight, and the United States will be worse than it is now in the next four years." An American veteran said in an interview with US media.

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