martes, febrero 18

How visiting the U.S. border became a powerful form of political theater

Vice President Kamala Harris visited the U.S.-Mexico border shortly after taking office with President Biden, even though she had called such visits futile politics just weeks before. President Barack Obama also visited the border during his time at the White House, although he came to view those trips as little more than photo ops.

Donald J. Trump used the border when he was president to galvanize support for his anti-immigration policies, even signing his name on its “big, beautiful wall” with a Sharpie pen.

As the immigration debate becomes increasingly polarized, a trip along the 3,000-mile border has become obligatory political theater for leaders who want to show they care about immigration. Imagery at the border – the wall, the Border Patrol agents, the overcrowded detention centers – serves as a powerful backdrop to call attention to the crisis or, increasingly, to seize control of the question to attack political opponents.

On Thursday, both of those factors will be in play when President Biden and Mr. Trump go dueling at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Mr. Trump will travel to Eagle Pass, Texas, where he will speak about crimes committed by migrants and accuse Mr. Biden of increasing border crossings. Mr. Biden, more than 300 miles away in Brownsville, plans to speak with border agents and challenge House Republicans who took their cue from Mr. Trump and thwarted a bipartisan border bill which would have cracked down on illegal immigration.

“This is a relatively new phenomenon, where there is a big deal from border to border,” said Tevi Troy, presidential historian. “As long as this remains a problem, we will have presidents who will either come to make a political point, or if they don’t go, will be pressured to do so.”

Immigration has become one of Mr. Biden’s biggest political liabilities as millions of migrants overwhelm an underfunded and underfunded system, something Republicans like Mr. Trump are keen to emphasize. A Gallup poll released Tuesday finds that Americans are most likely to name immigration as the country’s most important problem.

“It’s a Hail Mary from Biden,” said Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the main union for Border Patrol agents. Mr. Judd, who has long supported Mr. Trump, will join the former president at Eagle Pass on Thursday. Still, he said, he favored the border bill in Congress, supported by Mr. Biden and opposed by Mr. Trump.

Immigration is central to Mr. Trump’s bid for president and many Republicans, particularly in the House, would be reluctant to hand Mr. Biden an election victory on an issue that has earned them a powerful line of criticism towards white people. Home.

Border politics has not always been so divisive. In 1971, then-first lady Pat Nixon made headlines when she greeted Mexican children and complained about fences while visiting a park along the border in San Diego.

Decades later, President George W. Bush visited a Border Patrol station in New Mexico to rally support for his bid to reform the nation’s immigration policy. While the Senate at that time supported a bill providing a path to citizenship for many illegal immigrants, the House emphasized the need for border security.

Mr. Obama faced sharper divisions. In 2011, he gave a speech in El Paso, within sight of the border, to push for legalization laws, in a nod to Latino voters who would be crucial in the 2012 election. But in 2014, then As record numbers of unaccompanied minors crossed the border, Mr. Obama faced incessant calls to go to the border, which he rejected.

“I’m not interested in photo ops,” Mr. Obama said.

Mr. Trump was. He has visited the border several times during his presidency and might have gone more if not for the pandemic.

Almost as soon as Mr. Biden took office, he and Ms. Harris faced demands from Republicans that they should go to the border and see the crisis for themselves. Both made the trip to El Paso; Ms Harris in June 2021 and Mr Biden in January 2023.

Both have also been subject to criticism. Republicans criticized Ms. Harris for going to El Paso instead of the lower Rio Grande Valley, considered the epicenter of the migration surge. Progressive Democrats said Mr Biden should have spoken directly to migrants.

Gil Kerlikowske, commissioner of Customs and Border Protection during the Obama administration, said presidents and other top officials can show they prioritize the border by going there. But he also acknowledged that such visits could be more about political gain.

“It’s so politically sensitive right now,” Mr. Kerlikowske said. “Having them come and see the work and the challenges that Customs and Border Protection particularly faces at the border tells you that this will be, if not number one, at least one or two of the themes of this presidential election cycle. »