Donald Trump and Joe Biden promise tough action on immigration in rival Texas visits
At two Texas border towns both President Biden and former President Trump made duelling visits.
They were 300 miles apart but with an identical aim, to eke out political advantage from the immigration crisis which will be one of the defining issues of the 2024 election.
The Biden administration has presided over a record number of border crossings, a surge which Republicans have used to characterise the president as being weak on the issue.
In Brownsville, Texas, a town which historically has large influxes of migrants, Mr Biden made only his second visit to the border, but this time promised change.
“It’s real simple. It’s time to act, it’s long past time to act,” he said.
President Biden visited Brownsville, Texas. Pic: Reuters
He also accused Mr Trump of political point-scoring after a bipartisan bill, which would have resulted in a crackdown on the border, was thwarted by Republicans who were being egged on by the former president.
“You know and I know it’s the toughest, most efficient, most effective border security bill this country’s ever seen,” he said.
“So instead of playing politics with the issue, why don’t we just get together and get it done?”
A section of the border fence in Texas
Immigration is a happier hunting ground for Mr Trump. His rhetoric on the issue has become more extreme in recent months, notably when he said immigrants were “poisoning the blood” of America.
But it only seems to have enlivened his base, with the polls suggesting his advantage over President Biden on immigration is growing.
Speaking from Eagle Pass, Texas, with the backdrop of a razor wire fence, Mr Trump seized on the flashpoint of the murder of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student killed in Georgia.
The man charged with her murder is a Venezuelan migrant, previously arrested for crossing the border illegally in 2022 and then released, before being arrested in New York and released again.
Donald Trump said the US is ‘being overrun by the Biden migrant crime’
“The United States is being overrun by the Biden migrant crime,” he said. “Migrant crime is a new form of vicious violation to our country.”
Mr Trump’s words are reverberating in other border cities, too.
In the remote town of Jacumba Hot Springs, California, where migrants often cross the border, I meet a group of a dozen veterans outside a casino.
They are part of an organised convoy heading to the border to, they say, shore up defences.
A group of veterans were heading to the border to bolster defences
I ride along with Derrek Cardinale, a former marine and estate agent, in his white pickup truck. The conversation quickly turns to immigration and the terror threat.
“It only takes one to cause another 9/11 or another October 7th in Israel,” he says.
“I have four kids, and seeing this young girl Laken Riley recently being murdered by a Venezuelan who is here illegally. My wife travels with my four kids and she doesn’t have the training that I do to be aware all the time, so it definitely worries me.”
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The group has put in razor wire to plug holes in border defences
When we get to the border wall separating Mexico and the United States, where the 30ft-tall fence ends, the group have bundled out razor wire on top of boulders where migrants might scramble.
“What happens if a person gets caught on it?” I ask.
“Well it definitely hurts,” one woman replies. “It’s about making sure it’s painful enough that they at least can’t come in this way.”
‘It’s ugly, it’s dangerous’
For the migrants who do make it through, their first few hours in the United States often involves sitting on pavements in downtown areas outside detention centres, waiting for buses, first to transport hubs and then to the airport.
Waiting on a pavement in central San Diego I find Maria, a 21-year-old from Ecuador.
Maria is fleeing chaos and violence in Ecuador
She says it has taken her a month and 12 days to get to the US after fleeing gang violence in her home country.
“The situation in Ecuador, it’s ugly, it’s dangerous,” she says. “We came over here for a better future, to support our family and to stay for a while.”
Many of the migrants wear tracking devices placed on them by border control services, to monitor them while their asylum claims are processed.
Immigration is not just a potent political issue in border cities, many of the migrants are heading to destinations across the US, including Miami, Chicago and New York.
Greg said anyone could do better on immigration than Mr Biden
At San Diego’s marina, locals and tourists watch the sunset. Laurie and Tom, from Denver, Colorado, say the immigration system in their city can’t cope.
“We can only handle so many people,” says Laurie.
“We only have the resources for so many and allow people just to keep coming in and coming, and something’s going to break.”
Robin and Greg from Wisconsin, say they will vote for Donald Trump if he is an option in November because they believe he will protect America’s borders.
“I think anybody would protect the border better than the Biden administration,” says Greg. “Regardless of who that is.”
Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch, two Wall Street Journal reporters and the publication’s owner, News Corp.
The US president has accused the named individuals of defamation, claiming they acted with malicious intent and caused him overwhelming financial and reputational harm.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Miami, seeks at least $10bn (£7.5bn) in damages.
In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump called the lawsuit “historic legal action” which was filed on behalf of himself and all Americans who he said will “no longer tolerate the abusive wrongdoings of the Fake News Media”.
“I hope Rupert and his ‘friends’ are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case,” he wrote.
It comes after Mr Trump claimed that a letter he allegedly wrote to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was “fake” and said he would sue the “ass off” Rupert Murdoch, who owns the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which first published the story.
The publication had said Mr Trump wrote the letter as part of a collection Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, planned to give him as a 50th birthday present in 2003.
It claimed the message, allegedly from Mr Trump, featured several lines of typewritten text, concluding with: “May every day be another wonderful secret.”
The text was framed by what appeared to be a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman, the WSJ claimed. The letter is also said to have featured the signature “Donald”.
Mr Trump immediately denied writing the letter when the WSJ report was published on Thursday night.
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Memes of Epstein undermine victims, says lawyer
“The Wall Street Journal printed a FAKE letter, supposedly to Epstein,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures. I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper.”
Mr Trump ignored questions about Epstein as he signed a cryptocurrency bill at the White House earlier on Friday.
The president’s lawsuit comes as the US government filed a motion to unseal grand jury transcripts related to Epstein, who took his own life while awaiting trial in 2019.
In a Manhattan federal court filing, the Department of Justice said the criminal cases against Epstein and Maxwell are a matter of public interest, justifying the release of associated grand jury transcripts.
Earlier on Friday, Mr Trump said attorney general Pam Bondi had been asked to release the transcripts because of “the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein”.
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The justice department previously said it had around 200 documents relating to Epstein and that the FBI had thousands more.
It is unknown how much of this is grand jury testimony, which is typically kept secret under US law.
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Trump denies writing birthday letter to Epstein
The president has faced increased scrutiny over his alleged friendship with Epstein since his administration’s U-turn on the so-called ‘Epstein files’.
Mr Trump pledged to release files on Epstein during his presidential campaign, as his MAGA movement accused the Biden administration of suppressing the extent of Epstein’s paedophilia, predatory behaviour and his so-called “client list” – thought to contain names of the rich and famous who conspired with him in his child sex trafficking operation.
But after a review of the evidence the US government has, the Justice Department recently determined that no “further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted”.
Venezuela releases jailed Americans in prisoner swap
The Trump administration said on Friday that it had negotiated an exchange with Venezuela, resulting in the release of 10 jailed Americans.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the prisoners, who had been held in the South American country, were “on their way to freedom”.
Men in the CECOT jail in EL Salvador. Pic: Reuters
In return, 252 Venezuelan migrants being held in El Salvador have been freed, the Venezuelan government said.
They had been held in the notorious maximum security CECOT prison after being deported by the US.
US
Trump denies claim he wrote birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein – and says he has ordered release of more case files
Donald Trump has called an alleged letter he wrote to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein “fake” and said he will sue the “ass off” Rupert Murdoch, who owns the paper that first published the claim.
In multiple posts on Truth Social, the US president accused The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) of fabricating the letter that it claimed was written by Mr Trump as part of a collection of letters addressed to Epstein that his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell planned to give him as a birthday present in 2003.
According to documents seen by the WSJ, Mr Trump’s letter featured several lines of typewritten text framed by what appeared to be a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman.
The paper said the letter concludes “Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret”, and featured the signature “Donald”, allegedly drawn across the woman’s waist, meant to mimic the appearance of pubic hair.
Epstein took his own life in prison in 2019. Pic: AP
Responding to the WSJ’s claims, Mr Trump wrote: “The Wall Street Journal printed a FAKE letter, supposedly to Epstein. These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures.
“I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper. Thank you for your attention to this matter! DJT.”
He said earlier he would also sue the WSJ and News Corp, which Mr Murdoch owns. The WSJ is published by News Corp subsidiary company, Dow Jones & Co.
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From 16 July: Trump: Epstein case is ‘a boring story’
The Justice Department has not responded to the WSJ and the FBI declined to comment.
In a separate post, Mr Trump said he has asked the attorney general, Pam Bondi, to release “any and all pertinent grand jury testimony” in the case of the paedophile financier who was found dead in his Manhattan cell in August 2019, shortly after he was arrested on sex trafficking charges.
The release of any documents, Mr Trump said, would be subject to approval by a court.
The justice department has previously said it had around 200 documents relating to Epstein and that the FBI had thousands more. It is unknown how much of this is grand jury testimony – which is typically kept secret under US law.
Ms Bondi responded to the president on X, writing: “President Trump-we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts.”
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Elon Musk, who claimed last month that Mr Trump appears in the Epstein files, was surprisingly among the first to come to the president’s defence over the WSJ claims.
“It really doesn’t sound like something Trump would say tbh,” the tech billionaire wrote on X, before going on to ask where the evidence against Epstein allegedly held by the FBI had gone.
The Trump administration has come under criticism after the president appeared to U-turn on his own promise to release more information about the Epstein case publicly.
In the run-up to the US election last year, Mr Trump drew on rumours and conspiracy theories that appeared to accuse the Biden administration of suppressing the extent of Epstein’s paedophilia, predatory behaviour and his so-called “client list” – thought to contain names of the rich and famous who conspired with him in a child sex trafficking operation.
Ms Bondi fuelled these rumours in February by telling Fox News that the alleged Epstein client list was “sitting on my desk right now to review”.
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In the same month, the justice department released some government documents regarding the case, but there were no new revelations.
After a months-long review of additional evidence, the department earlier this month released a video meant to prove that Epstein killed himself, but said no other files related to the case would be made public.
The decision was criticised by many in Mr Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, who Mr Trump later called “weaklings”.
Sky News has contacted the White House for further comment.
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