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.”
Read more from Sky News:
Supreme Court will decide if Trump can be prosecuted over riot
Joe Biden still ‘fit for duty’ at 81, doctor says
Ecuador’s president is taking on powerful cartels – but he needs to stay alive
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.”
Paramount has launched a £108.4bn hostile bid for Warner Bros, challenging Netflix, which had reached a $72bn takeover deal with the company.
Paramount said on Monday that it was going straight to Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) shareholders with a $30 per share in cash offer for the entirety of the company, including its Global Networks segment, asking them to reject the deal with Netflix.
On Friday Netflix struck a deal to buy WBD, the Hollywood giant behind “Harry Potter” and HBO Max
The agreement means Warner Bros Discovery’s library of film and TV successes including Harry Potter and Game Of Thrones will come under the same roof as Stranger Things and Squid Game.
The cash and stock deal is valued at $27.75 per Warner share, giving it a total enterprise value of $82.7 billion, including debt.
But Paramount says its deal will pay $30 cash per share, representing $18 billion more in cash than its rivals are offering.
In a statement, Paramount said it was making a “strategically and financially compelling offer to WBD shareholders” and a “superior alternative to the Netflix transaction”.
File pic: iStock
David Ellison, chairman and CEO of Paramount, said: “WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company.
“Our public offer, which is on the same terms we provided to the Warner Bros. Discovery Board of Directors in private, provides superior value, and a more certain and quicker path to completion.
“We believe the WBD Board of Directors is pursuing an inferior proposal which exposes shareholders to a mix of cash and stock, an uncertain future trading value of the Global Networks linear cable business and a challenging regulatory approval process.
“We are taking our offer directly to shareholders to give them the opportunity to act in their own best interests and maximize the value of their shares.”
Paramount said it had submitted six proposals to WBD in the course of 12 weeks, but that they were never “meaningfully” engaged with.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the latest version.
You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
Donald Trump’s eldest son has said his father may walk away from the Ukraine peace process, claiming the issue is not a priority for Americans, and signalling Europe needs a better plan.
In a wide-ranging discussion with Sky’s lead world news presenter Yalda Hakim at Doha Forum 2025, Donald Trump Jr addressed issues including the US administration’s recent diplomatic efforts around the world.
He was speaking in his capacity as a business leader, setting out his agenda for “America first” investments in defence technology and artificial intelligence (AI), drawing a direct line between global stability and economic prosperity.
Ukraine war latest – follow live updates
Donald Trump meeting Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington earlier this year. Pic: Reuters
When asked directly if he believed the US president would walk away from Ukraine, he answered: “I think he may, what’s good about my father and what’s unique about my father is you don’t know what he’s going to do. He’s unpredictable.”
President Trump has led renewed efforts for a ceasefire deal with Russia in recent months.
Drawing a parallel with his father’s current “war” on drug cartels, Donald Trump Jr described gangs bringing illegal drugs into America as a “far greater clear and present danger to the US than anything [going on] in the Ukraine or Russia”.
While he said he did not believe Ukraine would be “abandoned”, he said: “The American public doesn’t have the appetite [for endless wars and further funding of Ukraine’s military efforts].”
Describing Ukraine as “a far more corrupt country than Russia”, he characterised Ukrainian President Zelenskyy as “one of the great marketeers of all time”, who he said had become “a borderline deity, especially to the left”.
He went on to describe President Trump’s approach as “common sense”.
China rivalry was the focus, but Musk got a mention
In a country and at a conference which is friendly, even admiring of the Trump administration, Don Jr was in his element.
He’s here in his capacity as a business leader, promoting his venture, 1789 Capital which claims to be focused on “America First” investments.
But he wasn’t shy about discussing his father’s foreign policy achievements, boasting that Donald Trump had resolved seven or eight wars – conflicts that most ordinary Americans were unaware of.
His pitch is bullish and direct – the current US administration is projecting strength globally, stopping wars and creating investment opportunities which serves the American economy. It’s the MAGA mentality for the global audience.
It’s clear that the rivalry with China is their biggest focus, especially finding ways to combat their dominance over critical minerals.
“America can no longer just sit there and hope that China is going to be a good actor… I think the rest of the world understands that they want America to be at the forefront of all of that.”
When I asked him about recent efforts by President Trump to bring the war in Ukraine to an end, he responded forcefully. “We want peace, we want to stop the death.”
But he went on to say that Europe needed to shoulder the burden and currently they have no plan.
As he sat on the stage in Qatar, the country which has been at the centre of the ceasefire efforts for Gaza, he expressed hope that peace would prevail, but balanced expectations America would fund its re-construction. This would have to be a global effort.
“If there’s one thing my father is, it’s a builder… I think he can be the greatest construction manager in the history of the world, but no one in America wants to bear the entire responsibility of that.”
And, away from international diplomatic efforts, he was happy to announce a breakthrough closer to home.
The “bromance” with Elon Musk and President Trump is back on – calling the entrepreneur a “generational talent, a generational level of genius”.
‘Bromance’ back on
He also confirmed that Tesla billionaire Elon Musk was “100% back in the fold”, after previously appearing to fall out with the president.
Earlier this year, Donald Trump Jr’s investment company, 1789 Capital, heavily invested in some of Musk’s companies, including SpaceX.
Elon Musk and Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in May. Pic: AP
Directly comparing President Trump with Musk, he said: “Imagine dealing with one Donald Trump – now I have to deal with two.
“They’re very similar that way, so it created some headaches… but the reality is they’re both very much aligned, they’re on message with what we want to do with our country. What we want to do with freedom of speech.”
He went on: “Elon did incredible things for Twitter, really allowed the democratisation of truth and freedom and free speech to occur. That’s something that is a true threat in America right now.”
He also praised Musk as “changing the face of free speech, science and technology”, adding, “we have to protect our geniuses”.
When asked whether Mr Trump would stand for a third term, he joked that he could be “just trolling” those on the left.
He went on, “He’s the most unpredictable person, probably in the history of politics. Which is why he’s able to get something done. We’ll see.”
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment3 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024