Biden, Trump trade barbs on border visits

US President Joe Biden and Donald Trump, his likely GOP challenger in the upcoming presidential election, had a same-day showdown on border security in Texas on Thursday, with near-simultaneous speeches about 500 kilometers apart.

At one end in Eagle Pass with barbed wire serving as a border barrier in the background, Trump praised hard-line Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott's efforts to secure the border and accused Biden of allowing millions of migrants to "invade" the United States. On the other end inside a building in the Texas city of Brownsville, Biden asked the former president and GOP lawmakers to work with him on immigration reform.

The split-screen moment highlighted what could be a make-or-break issue in the presidential election less than eight months away, with polls showing most voters blame Biden for the unprecedented number of illegal entries.

Biden asked the GOP to reconsider a bipartisan immigration bill that passed the Senate in early February but was not taken up in the House of Republicans, with Democrats accusing House Republicans of acting politically on behalf of Trump.

That bill would have tightened laws on migration and given the president authority to close the border.

Trump, in his comments, frequently mentioned Biden.

Hoping his long history of anti-immigration rhetoric can deliver an extraordinary White House comeback, 77-year-old Trump painted a dark picture of US citizens "kidnapped", "raped" and "savagely murdered" by migrants.

"Joe Biden is responsible for this invasion," Trump raged during his speech, speaking alongside Abbott, adding that by the time Biden is out of office, the number "could be 15 million, could be 18 million".

The choice of Eagle Pass was symbolic, as Abbott has taken military control of an area there along the Rio Grande that marks the border, sparking a standoff with the US federal government.

Migration is 81-year-old Biden's biggest political weak spot apart from his age, with Republicans blaming Biden's policies favoring the right to asylum for the flow of migrants, with a survey by broadcaster NBC showing Trump leading Biden by 30 points on the issue of immigration.

But Biden is trying to turn the issue back on Trump by accusing him of sabotaging efforts to pass a bipartisan immigration bill that would give border forces more staff and money.

The Democratic incumbent urged his rival to stop "playing politics" with proposed migration reforms.

Dressed in a jacket and baseball cap, Biden was accompanied by his immigration chief Alejandro Mayorkas, who was impeached by Republicans just over two weeks ago in a sign of how divisive the issue has become.

Again the choice of location was significant — migrant crossings around Brownsville dipped by nearly a quarter in January, due partly to the Biden administration's cooperation with Mexico.

Hard-right populism

But more than 2.4 million migrants crossed the southern US border last year alone, largely from Central America and South America as they flee poverty, violence and disasters exacerbated by climate change.

For hard-right populist Trump, an anti-immigration stance has been central to his political identity for years, and he has pledged the largest-ever US deportation program if he returns to the White House.

Trump spent much of his time in office pledging to complete a wall along the Mexican border, only a small part of which was built, though numbers of crossings were lower during his 2017-21 term.

This time around, he has stepped up his rhetoric, accusing migrants of "poisoning the blood of our country", in comments that Biden said were reminiscent of the Nazis.

On Thursday, the Republican-led Georgia House of Representatives by a 97-74 vote approved a bill to require local police to arrest with probable cause anyone suspected of being in the country illegally and to detain them for deportation.

"Biden is playing the politics in old-fashioned way. He is doing what he can with the GOP members. I don't think he will get the collaboration he wants from them," Matthew Shwartz, an engineer in Houston, said after watching the speeches. "Trump is making nonsensical statements, which are likely emotionally appealing to his base."

Agencies contributed to this story.