Many Republicans mocked President Biden’s visit to El Paso, Texas as long over-due at best and a distracting "photo-op" at worst on Sunday.
Biden and the White House heavily promoted the event, the first time Biden has visited a border city during his administration, on Twitter. The event also followed two consecutive years of record-level border crossings with many considering it to be a "crisis."
"Today, I’m traveling to El Paso to visit the border and meet with local leaders. Our border communities represent the best of our nation’s generosity and we’re going to get them more support while expanding legal pathways for orderly immigration and limiting illegal immigration," Biden tweeted.
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Although the White House touted this visit ahead of new measures to tackle migration, many social media users called out the visit as an overdue photo-op that will likely not affect illegal immigration.
"Soooo.... Biden is going to pretend to care about illegal immigration for the first time in his 50+ year political career... lol... ok... got it," Comedian Tim Young commented.
"Why has it taken you 50 years?" RedState columnist Buzz Patterson asked.
Border Security Coalition president Irene Armendariz-Jackson tweeted, "We do not want your fake visit that you had the entire city cleaned up for. This is a lie!"
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, R., wrote, "As soon as he took office, President Biden stopped enforcing America’s immigration laws, rolled back effective border policies, & offered the world a clear incentive to illegally enter the US. His overdue visit to the border is solely a poor attempt to score political points."
"Congratulations to President Biden for finally figuring out where the border is, two years into his presidency. Wouldn’t have anything to do with House Republicans kicking off our border oversight plans this week, would it?" Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, remarked.
Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde, R., tweeted, "After five decades of public service, Joe Biden is finally visiting the southern border. But Americans deserve policies that secure the border—not a photo op. Rest assured, accountability is coming under our House Republican Majority."
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According to Custom and Border Protection sources, there have been more than 718,000 migrant encounters at the border since the beginning of the fiscal year. The sources also told Fox News that December numbers exceeded 250,000, making December the third month in a row with over 230,000.
El Paso specifically led the nation as the biggest sector for migrant encounters. CBP sources reported 168,170 encounters alone at the El Paso sector, up 222% compared to this time last year. In addition, they also reported over 78,000 "Got Aways" in the sector, referring to illegal immigrants spotted crossing the border but not apprehended by the authorities.
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Republicans have been criticizing President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden appointed to tackle border issues, for refusing to act on the drastically increasing numbers of migrants illegally crossing the border. Kamala previously visited El Paso in June 2021 after months of GOP criticism.
