Biden visits U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso on Sunday

Migration is one of the country’s most pressing issues, and President Joe Biden demonstrates the administration’s stance on the issue Sunday during a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border.

This is his first trip to the Mexican border since taking office.

On Thursday, Biden announced new plans to block Cuban, Haitian and Nicaraguan migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, expanding the categories of migrants who can be sent back to Mexico.

The president’s visit to El Paso, Texas, is not expected to bring specific new policies, but it will demonstrate the administration’s engagement with border agencies and be another call for Congress to pass new laws to fix flaws in the current system.

Republicans, who have a majority in the House and blame Biden for failing to take tougher action on the border crisis, have so far largely blocked any legislative change.

As early as his first day in office, Biden sent Congress a plan for immigration reform, but Republicans blocked his request for $3.5 billion to strengthen border security.

“This trip is a recognition that this is a serious issue, an issue with real challenges, but it’s also an issue that will only be solved with Republican help,” said Democratic Party adviser Karen Finney.

Biden, accompanied by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, will meet with local officials and community leaders at the border and review border security measures in El Paso, where the mayor declared a state of emergency last month, citing that border officials detain thousands of migrants every day, with hundreds of them forced to sleep on the streets in freezing temperatures.

In fiscal year 2022, border officials detained 2.2 million people at the border with Mexico.

Human rights activists and some Democratic politicians say the new restrictive measures are a retreat from Biden’s 2020 campaign promise to restore historic rights to asylum seekers.

Recall that on Thursday, Biden opened legal, restricted pathways into the country for Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians, and called on Congress to pass comprehensive reform that lawmakers have been unable to pass for decades.

After his visit to El Paso, Biden will travel to Mexico, where he will meet with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for talks that will also address immigration issues.