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 said he would try to return territory to Ukraine as he prepares to meet Vladimir Putin and lay the groundwork for a deal to bring an end to the war.
“Russia has occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They’ve occupied some very prime territory. We’re going to try and get some of that territory back for Ukraine,” the US president said at a White House news conference ahead of Friday’s summit in Alaska.
Mr Trump also said: “There’ll be some land swapping going on. I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody, to the good of Ukraine.”
He said he’s going to see what Mr Putin “has in mind” to end the three-and-a-half-year full-scale invasion.
Donald Trump speaks to reporters at the White House. Pic: Reuters
And he said if it’s a “fair deal,” he will share it with European and NATO leaders, as well as Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who have been liaising closely with Washington ahead of the meeting.
Asked if Mr Zelenskyy was invited to the summit with Mr Putin in Alaska, Mr Trump said the Ukrainian leader “wasn’t a part of it”.
“I would say he could go, but he’s gone to a lot of meetings. You know, he’s been there for three and a half years – nothing happened,” Mr Trump added.
The US president said Mr Putin wants to get the war “over with” and “get involved” in possible talks but acknowledged Moscow’s attacks haven’t stopped.
“I’ve said that a few times and I’ve been disappointed because I’d have a great call with him and then missiles would be lobbed into Kyiv or some other place,” he said.
Mr Trump said he will tell Mr Putin “you’ve got to end this war, you’ve got to end it,” but that “it’s not up to me” to make a deal between Russia and Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin is set to meet Donald Trump in Alaska. Pic: Reuters
Zelenskyy says Russia ‘wants to buy time’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russia “wants to buy time, not end the war”.
“It is obvious that the Russians simply want to buy time, not end the war,” he wrote in a post on X, after a phone call with Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Pic: Reuters
“The situation on the battlefield and Russia’s wicked strikes on civilian infrastructure and ordinary people prove this clearly.”
Mr Zelenskyy said the two “agreed that no decisions concerning Ukraine’s future and the security of our people can be made without Ukraine’s participation”, just as “there can be no decisions without clear security guarantees”.
Sanctions against Russia must remain in force and be “constantly strengthened,” he added.
European leaders meet ahead of call with Trump
Meanwhile, European officials have been holding meetings ahead of a phone call with Mr Trump on Wednesday.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has been speaking to foreign ministers virtually, saying on X that work “on more sanctions against Russia, more military support for Ukraine and more support for Ukraine’s budgetary needs and accession process to join the EU” is under way.
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‘Russians want to carry on fighting’
Over the weekend, European leaders released a joint statement, welcoming Mr Trump’s “work to stop the killing in Ukraine”.
“We are convinced that only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war can succeed,” read the statement.
It was signed by UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Finland’s President Alexander Stubb, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“We underline our unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity,” they said.
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Attacks continue
Despite Donald Trump’s efforts to convince Vladimir Putin to commit to a ceasefire and negotiations, Russian attacks on Ukraine have only intensified in the past few months.
Ukraine’s president has said that, in the past week, Russia launched more than 1,000 air bombs, nearly 1,400 drones and multiple missile strikes on Ukraine.
On 9 July, Russia carried out its largest aerial attack on Ukraine since the start of the war, launching more than 740 drones and missiles, breaking its records from previous weeks.
Furthermore, Mr Zelenskyy has said Russia is preparing for new offensives.
And then there were two.
It will be a Trump-Putin bilateral summit in Alaska.
Ukraine latest: Trump details talks with Putin
The US president has ruled out a trilateral meeting including Volodymyr Zelenskyy and is framing the talks as low stakes.
He described it as a “feel out” meeting “to see what the parameters” are, and stressed “it’s not up to me to make a deal.”
A strategic preemption perhaps, setting expectations low, and preparing the public for failure.
But he remains wedded to the notion that “land swapping” will shape any deal to end the war in Ukraine.
“Good stuff” and “bad stuff” for both sides, he said, positioning himself as the pragmatic mediator between the two.
He expressed irritation with Mr Zelenskyy’s assertion that he doesn’t have the constitutional power to concede land, though did say he hopes to get “prime territory” back for Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will not be attending the summit. Pic: AP
The dealmaker-in-chief
Mr Trump promised to brief the Ukrainian president and European leaders immediately after his meeting with Mr Putin.
And he voiced confidence in his ability to quickly assess the potential for a deal, boasting his business acumen.
“At the end of the meeting, probably the first two minutes, I’ll know exactly whether or not a deal can be made,” he said.
Asked how he would know, he replied: “That’s what I do, make deals.”
Members of his cabinet nodded in approval.
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Putin ‘wants war to be over’
A law-and-order crackdown in the US capital seems timed to bolster his diplomatic stance.
He branded crime in Washington “a national emergency”, took federal control of police and deployed the National Guard.
It may seem strange that Mr Trump is talking about “taking back” Washington, ahead of a rare summit with Mr Putin.
But he’s positioning himself as bold and uncompromising before he faces a man deemed bold and uncompromising.
A telling gaffe
And he conflated the two, saying: “This is a tragic emergency, and I’m going to see Putin, I’m going to Russia on Friday.”
He isn’t going to Russia. He’s going to Alaska. But that gaffe revealed how central Mr Putin is to his narrative, even domestically.
Vladimir Putin has been reluctant to meet his Ukrainian counterpart. Pic: Sputnik/Reuters
Mr Putin wants to lock in the gains Russia has made since invading Ukraine, while Mr Trump presses for a ceasefire.
But it’s hard to envisage any ice-breaking peace deal emerging from Friday’s summit in Alaska.
How could there be when Mr Zelenskyy is out in the cold?
For now, this is a Trump-Putin power play.
Donald Trump has announced he is going to deploy National Guard troops to Washington DC to make the US capital’s streets safer.
At a White House news conference on Monday, the president said the city’s police would come under federal control as he said the murder rate in DC was “higher than” in some of the “worst places on earth”.
He said he was sending in the troops to “re-establish law, order, and public safety”.
Members of the National Guard outside the US Capitol. File Pic: AP
Mr Trump said he was announcing a “historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse.
“This is liberation day in DC and we are going to take our capital back.”
The president continued: “So today we are declaring a public safety emergency in the district of Columbia.”
He added it is not just about safety but also the “beautification” of the city.
“Washington DC should be one of the safest, cleanest and most beautiful cities anywhere in the world and we’re going to make it that.”
Last week, the Republican president directed federal law enforcement agencies to increase their presence in Washington for seven days, with the option “to extend as needed”.
A member of the National Guard patrols the area outside of the US Capitol in 2021.
File pic: AP
On Friday night, federal agencies including the Secret Service, the FBI and the US Marshals Service assigned more than 120 officers and agents to assist in Washington.
National Guard troops usually belong to individual states and personnel in many cases are trained to help with emergencies that those states have to deal with, such as natural disasters.
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Since they are the reserve force of the US military, National Guard troops are usually part-time, meaning that they have other jobs as well.
Minority leader of the US House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, responded to Mr Trump’s announcement on Monday with a post on X which read: “Violent crime in Washington, DC is at a thirty-year low.
“Donald Trump has no basis to take over the local police department. And zero credibility on the issue of law and order.
“Get lost.”
In a social media post on Sunday, Mr Trump emphasised the removal of Washington’s homeless population, though it was unclear where the thousands of people would go.
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“The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,” Mr Trump wrote.
“We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital. The Criminals, you don’t have to move out. We’re going to put you in jail where you belong.”
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