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Donald Trump
Biden and Trump duel at the wall
Wolfgang Hansson
This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's.
Published 09.45
EL PASO, TEXAS. The battle for the wall took on a new dimension today as President Joe Biden and Donald Trump visited the US southern border on the same day and addressed their supporters.
With the timing of his visit, Biden is trying to wrest the migration issue out of Trump's grasp and show American voters that he is doing something about the record-breaking illegal immigration.
Almost all news channels broadcast live from the border visits. Often with a so-called split screen where you could see Biden and Trump dueling at the respective border section.
In an opinion poll reported by the television channel CNN, 28 percent of Americans say that migration is the most important election issue. Clearly more important than both the economy and inflation.
After visiting the border area here in El Paso yesterday, I can understand their concern. They see daily on television images how hundreds of refugees and migrants apparently easily enter the United States despite the fact that there is an eight-meter high wall in place to stop them and now also barbed wire in some places and other obstacles that can cause serious personal injuries.
Refugees are trying to cross into the United States.
1 / 2Photo: Jerker Ivarsson
Nevertheless, a record number manage to enter the country and seek asylum or simply disappear through openings in the wall or by climbing over rope ladders in less well-guarded parts of the border.
What is happening gives an impression of chaos that reminds not a little of when ten thousand people a day entered Sweden during the great refugee crisis of 2015.
But neither Biden nor Trump really has any solution to the crisis. Sweden stopped the flow of refugees by introducing border controls towards Denmark. But the US border with Mexico is a 315 mile long land border. It is not possible to monitor the entire stretch.
Border Patrol in El Paso. Photo: Jerker Ivarsson
The bill to the taxpayers
When Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, his big campaign promise was to build a wall against Mexico. At all election meetings he asked the rhetorical question "who will pay for the wall?". The audience enthusiastically chanted "Mexico" as Trump promised to make the neighbor pay.
In reality, Trump did not build many miles of new wall. Instead, he replaced the four-meter-high wall that Obama had built in 2013-14 with a twice as high and more high-tech version.
The bill, contrary to Trump's promises, had to be paid for by American taxpayers.
The border has become a major election issue again. Photo: Jerker Ivarsson
When Biden took over, he immediately stopped the construction of a new wall. His rhetoric was more friendly to those who wanted to seek refuge in the United States. But it also led to an increase in the number trying to get to the United States.
Last year was a record year when 2.3 million illegal migrants were registered at the border. There are far more than those who came during Trump's presidency. Trump's wall, which was completed only at the end of his term in office, has not succeeded in stopping immigration.
Last year, 2.3 million illegal migrants were registered at the border. Photo: Jerker Ivarsson
Biden has been heavily criticized for not doing more to secure the border. In particular, stop the smuggling of the drug fentanyl that kills so many Americans every year.
Ahead of the November election, Biden has realized he must act. It must at least look like he is doing more to reduce the number of migrants and drugs being smuggled in.
Joe Biden visited the border and has previously faced great criticism for his actions in the matter. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP
Most important election issue
The trip to Brownsville, a border town in southern Texas, was to convince voters that he is really trying.
- It is time to do something about the border problem, says Biden, who is considering various measures to stop those who enter the country illegally from seeking asylum.
But the visit was made public only after it became known that Trump
would visit another part of the border that same day, Eagle Pass, where
the local governor recently deployed the Texas National Guard to secure
the border. Something that has been strongly supported by Trump and
virtually all Republican governors, despite the fact that border control
is a matter for the federal government and the US Border Patrol.
When Biden took over, he immediately stopped the construction of a new wall. His rhetoric was more friendly to those who wanted to seek refuge in the United States. But it also led to an increase in the number trying to get to the United States.
Last year was a record year when 2.3 million illegal migrants were registered at the border. There are far more than those who came during Trump's presidency. Trump's wall, which was completed only at the end of his term in office, has not succeeded in stopping immigration.
The Supreme Court recently ruled that Texas must allow border guards to cut the barbed wire if needed to do their job. Even so, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has put up even more barbed wire in other places like here in El Paso.
Trump sees the border and migration as his most important election issue and biggest chance to defeat Biden.
So much so that he recently pressured Republicans in Congress to vote no more money for border security because he wants to let the border chaos continue until the election as a weapon against Biden.
Tears in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
1 / 2Photo: Jerker Ivarsson
"Mass Invasion"
- Only I can stop Biden's illegal mass invasion, Trump claimed during his visit to Eagle Pass.
If elected, he promises to deport migrants in unprecedented numbers. Something that is easier said than done.
During the day, I met Karina Breceda, who runs a shelter for pregnant women who crossed the border into El Paso. I think she hit the nail on the head when she described Biden and Trump's visit to the border as "political theater" that won't solve anything.
But the decisive factor will be how the voters perceive it. Today, a majority has greater confidence in Trump when it comes to stopping the "invasion".
Jerker Ivarsson and Wolfgang Hansson on site in El Paso. Photo: Aftonbladet
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