Former President Donald Trump gave a wave to migrants through a barbed wire fence at the US-Mexico border during a visit with Texas Governor Greg Abbott where he slammed President Biden’s handling of the border.
The ex-commander in chief, who has consistently criticized his successor over the crisis, was at the fence in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Thursday.
Trump said Biden had the ‘blood of countless innocent victims’ on his hands, adding: ‘He’s transported columns of fighting men. They look like warriors to me.’
The former president was shown barbed wire along the river by Texas Governor Greg Abbott and spoke to border guards who have been dealing with the surge in crossers – while Biden visited another border site 324 miles away.
‘You’re in a war,’ the 77-year-old Republican frontrunner told frontline agents in Eagle Pass, who have vented their fury at Biden. ‘This is a military operation.’
Former President Donald Trump gave a wave to migrants through a barbed wire fence at the US-Mexico border during a visit with Texas Governor Greg Abbott where he slammed President Biden’s handling of the border
‘We have languages coming into our country that nobody speaks those languages.’
Trump also revealed he had spoken to the parents of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old student jogger murdered in Georgia. An illegal immigrant has been charged with killing her. Trump said her mother and father will ‘never be the same’ and that Biden will ‘never say her name.’
In a piece for DailyMail.com ahead of the trip, Trump wrote how Biden ‘created the illegal migrant invasion’ and stated that he was the only candidate who could stop it.
In Eagle Pass several hundred yards along the Rio Grande, on the opposite side, around a dozen Mexicans stood watching the former president.
They stood on a raised road above a brightly colored mural, and leaning over a railing to see.
Trump then arrived at the spot – Shelby Park, a 47–acre grassy area along the river.
The scene that greeted him included four Humvees and a military helicopter in front of dozens of shipping containers used to block migrants from crossing.
Some of the shipping containers were stacked on top of each other with razor wire on top of that.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump gestures near the bank of the Rio Grande River at Shelby Park during a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump talks with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott during a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday in Eagle Pass, Texas
Mexicans watch as Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump visits the U.S.-Mexico border at Eagle Pass, Texas, as seen from Piedras Negras, Mexico, on Thursday
Trump was briefed by Abbott and members of the Texas National Guard. Guardsmen we’re waiting for him when he arrived near a boat ramp that law enforcement uses to access the river.
At the boat ramp the body of a drowned migrant was brought ashore yesterday.
Trump spent ten minutes at the ramp and was seen shaking his head as he was briefed.
Abbott said Biden had ‘lied to America’ about the border, and accused the president of “aiding and abetting illegal entry” and wanting to ‘tear down’ defenses put up by Texas.
‘The United States is being invaded. Joe Biden is not doing his job,’ Abbott said.
Since park taken over by Texas in January the number of migrants crossing has fallen from thousands a day to ‘six or seven’ Abbott said, because he put up stronger barriers.
‘This part of the border is sealed,’ he said.
Meanwhile, Biden toured the border city of Brownsville, Texas, 324 miles along the frontier.
Donald Trump said the U.S. is at ‘war’ at the border because of ‘Joe Biden’s invasion’ and claimed military-aged men who look like ‘warriors’ are streaming across the Rio Grande from ‘the Congo and jails’ in a fiery speech in Texas
Trump speaks to members of the Texas National Guard in front of the concertina wire set up to stem the flow of migrants
‘You’re in a war,’ the 77-year-old Republican frontrunner said as he spoke to frontline agents in Eagle Pass who have vented their fury at Biden. ‘This is a military operation’
Trump speaks to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who has been in a face-off with the Biden administration over who has jurisdiction to deal with migrants in Eagle Pass
At the Trump event Brandon Judd, the president of the National Border Patrol Council, said: ‘I want you (Trump) to know, your agents, my agents, they’re mad as hell.
‘Absolutely mad that President Biden went to Brownsville, Texas, rather than going to Arizona rather than going to San Diego, California, rather than coming to Eagle Pass, Texas, which has been the epicenter.’
He added: ‘Your agents, they’re p****d.’
Biden, 81, met with Border Patrol agents alongside his Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on the banks of the Rio Grande at Brownsville.
He has been accused of using the trip as a ‘photo op’ for his campaign and is visiting an area where migrant crossings have dropped substantially.
DailyMail.com visited the area Biden will tour, and found piles of trash being patrolled by bored border guards.
‘We have languages coming into our country that nobody speaks those languages,’ Trump added during his border trip
Trump walks along a boat ramp leading down to the Rio Grande, where a migrant’s body was found just 24 hours earlier
‘We have languages coming into our country that nobody speaks those languages,’ Trump added after his tour along the banks of the river
The border visits came as immigration explodes to become the biggest issue in the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
A Gallup poll found 28 percent of Americans now believe immigration is the biggest problem facing America, more than cite the economy or inflation..
The figure was a record high since Gallup began polling voters on their views about immigration in 1981.
Earlier, Trump accused Biden of allowing a ‘horrible invasion’ of the United States and said ‘migrant crime is taking over America’.
He also vowed to carry out the ‘largest domestic deportation operation in American history’ if re-elected.
Public concern about illegal immigration is higher under Biden’s presidency than it was under the last two administrations.
In the latest Gallup poll the percentage of Americans citing immigration as the biggest problem was up eight points from last month.
Other leading issues were the ‘government’ on 20 percent, the economy on 12 percent and inflation on 11 percent.
The 28 percent of voters citing immigration surpassed the previous record of 27 percent in a Gallup poll in July 2019 when there was a surge at the border.
The 77-year-old Republican frontrunner wearing a suit and his custom red tie said: ‘It’s good weather. Beautiful day but a very dangerous border. We’re going to take care of it’
Several hundred yards along the Rio Grande, on the opposite side, around a dozen Mexicans stood watching for a glimpse of the former president
Meanwhile, Biden toured the border city of Brownsville, Texas, 325 miles to the east.
Trump landed at an airport near Eagle Pass, Texas , the city which has been dubbed ‘ground zero’ for the chaotic border situation
Supporters for former US President Donald Trump gather near Shelby Park ahead of his visit
Migrants link arms with the rest of the group as they wade into the Rio Grande River with intentions to cross into Eagle Pass, Texas, U.S., from Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico on Febraury 24
Trump fans line the streets in Eagle Pass. Polls this week show that immigration has become the top issue for American voters, ahead of the economy
Huge piles of fence are seen next to a helicopter in the foreground of where Trump will tour
Members of the National Guard stand watch on the day Trump visits Eagle Pass
She was found dead last week after she didn’t return from a morning run in a wooded area.
Jose Ibarra, 26, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, who crossed into the United States in 2022, has been charged with murder.
On the eve of his border visit Trump said: ‘This monster should never have been allowed into our country.
‘He was released at Crooked Joe’s orders and set loose into our country.
‘How many more innocent victims must be harmed? How much more innocent blood must be spilled until we stop this horrible, horrible invasion and remove these illegal alien criminals from our country?’
Texas starts construction on new 80-acre military base camp in Eagle Pass for 2,300 soldiers as Gov. Greg Abbott promises to ‘amass a large army’ to combat migrant invasion
This undated image provided by Augusta University shows Laken Hope Riley, a nursing student whose body was found Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024, on the University of Georgia campus in Athens, Georgia
Jose Antonio Ibarra of Venezuela is seen in one of his TikTok videos. Ibarra is accused of murdering nursing student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus
Augusta University College of Nursing students gather to mourn the loss of Laken Riley during a vigil for the nursing student at the Tate Plaza on the University of Georgia campus in Athens, Ga., Monday, Feb. 26, 202
A majority of Americans now support a border wall of the kind Trump proposed in 2016 and started building during his presidency, according to a new survey by Monmouth University.
The Del Rio sector of the border, which includes Eagle Pass, was the busiest area for illegal crossings in 2022 and 2023.
Across the whole border U.S. Border Patrol had nearly 250,000 encounters with migrants in December 2023.
Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott is in a battle with Joe Biden over border enforcement
Workers assemble a string of buoys, to deter migrants from crossing the Rio Grande river, at the international border with Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas, on July 27, 2023
Members of the U.S. National Guard stand by a helicopter ahead of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s border visit event, in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Thursday
That was the highest monthly total ever by some distance.
In the Del Rio sector there were more than 71,000 arrests in December.
Maverick County, which includes Eagle Pass, a city of 30,000 people, is a Democratic stronghold, but Republicans are gaining.
In the 2020 election Trump narrowed the gap to less than 10 points.
In January, Texas, Governor Greg Abbott took military control of a 47-acre area of Eagle Pass called Shelby Park.
Members of the U.S. National Guard stand guard in Eagle Pass, Texas, where former U.S. President Donald Trump will have a border visit event, February 28, 2024
Aerial view showing migrants crossing the Rio Grande river from Piedras Negras, Mexico, to Eagle Pass, on December 21, 2023
He installed razor wire and shipping container barriers in the park which runs along the Rio Grande.
Biden in turn sued Texas, insisting that border control has always fallen under federal jurisdiction.
Abbott also intends to spend nearly $200 million building an 80-acre “base camp” in Eagle Pass for National Guard troops.
It will house up to 2,300 members of the Texas National Guard and be close to both Shelby Park and the Eagle Pass National Bridge which connects to Mexico.
.