Biden, Trump will travel to the border on Thursday in dueling trips

President Biden and former president Donald Trump will visit border cities in Texas on Thursday, underscoring the central role of border security and immigration heading into the election to determine which party will control the White House and Congress.

Biden will travel to Brownsville, Tex., on Thursday to meet with U.S. Border Patrol agents, law enforcement personnel and local leaders, according to a White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal travel plans that were not publicly announced.

Last week news outlets reported Trump had planned to visit Eagle Pass, Tex., about 300 miles northwest of Brownsville. After Biden’s travel plans were reported on Monday, a spokeswoman for Trump’s campaign said Biden was belatedly trying to address the potent issue. Biden “has had three years to visit the border and fix the crisis he created,” Karoline Leavitt, press secretary for Trump’s campaign, said in a statement. “Biden’s last-minute, insincere attempt to chase President Trump to the border won’t cut it,” she said.

The trip comes as House Republicans have resisted bipartisan legislation linking increased spending to secure the border with foreign aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. The trip also comes as Republicans have made border security a key focus of their campaigns heading into the 2024 elections.

According to the White House official, Biden will use the trip to reiterate his call for Republicans in Congress to pass the bipartisan legislation, which will include a boost in funding for more U.S. Border Patrol agents, asylum officers and technology to detect fentanyl being smuggled over the border.

Support for building a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico now has support from a majority of adults in the country, according to a new poll published Monday by Monmouth University. The poll of about 900 adults showed 53 percent of adults said they support building a wall, compared with 46 who opposed it. That support includes 86 percent of Republicans, 58 percent of independents and just 17 percent of Democrats.

Previously, the highest level of support that initiative received was 46 percent back in April 2019, according to Monmouth University.

The latest poll also showed that concerns about illegal immigration have also risen. Sixty-one percent of people said illegal immigration is a “very serious” issue, up from 46 percent back in April 2019, when the question was last asked.

Tyler Pager contributed to this report.