Border agents were ‘happy’ to see Joe Biden come to the Rio Grande to observe their work and the president noted he wanted to return, officials who took him on his tour told DailyMail.com.
‘We talked about our challenges that we face on the border and things that we need to be able to do a better job of border security. It was good to have him here, to have him ahead and listen to that to the issues that we that we’re facing,’ U.S. Custom and Border Patrol agent Jason Owens told DailyMail.com.
Owens was one of the three agents that gave Biden the tour along the Rio Grande river, along the border with Brownsville, Texas, and Mexico.
During his visit, Biden also revealed he’d like to return to the border. Thursday’s trip was only the second of his presidency.
Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, who represents Brownsville, Texas, said the president wants to come back although no time frame for another visit was discussed.
‘We look forward to inviting him back many more times,’ Gonzales told DailyMail.com.
U.S. Custom and Border Patrol Agent Jason Owens (above second from left) was one of three agents who gave President Joe Biden a tour of the Rio Grande
After his tour of the border area, where he met with agents on patrol and walked along the Rio Grande, Biden received a briefing from CBP agents at their Brownsville station.
‘They seemed very professional and they seemed happy to have him come down and listen to what they had to say,’ Owens said of the agents reaction to the president.
But one group not invited to President Biden’s meeting was the National Border Patrol Council, a union made up of border agents. The union has been highly critical of Biden’s handling of the border and its president, Brandon Judd, was 324 miles away on Thursday, joining Donald Trump on his border visit at Eagle Pass, Texas.
One member of the union told local news outlets he had mixed emotions about President Biden’s visit.
‘It’s kind of mixed emotions. It’s good that the President is finally coming down. Too bad it was at this time last year instead of three years ago when everything kind of went crazy, but I guess better late than never,’ the agent said.
Biden spent about four hours on the ground in Texas, splitting TV time with Trump, his likely rival in the 2024 presidential election, who was also touring the border.
In his remarks, Biden reached out to his rival, asking work with him on border security instead of ‘playing politics.
‘I understand my predecessor is in Eagle Pass. Here’s what I’d say to Mr. Trump,’ Biden said. ‘Instead of telling members of Congress to block this legislation, join me or I’ll join you in telling the Congress to pass this bipartisan border security bill.’
Biden was referring to a bipartisan border security bill already approved by the Senate but being held up by House Republicans, who say it’s not strong enough. Trump has opposed the legislation.
‘We can do it together. You know and I know that it’s the toughest, most effective border security bill this country has ever seen,’ Biden added. ‘Instead of playing politics, just get together and get it done. Let’s remember who the heck we work for. We work for the American people, not the Democratic party, the Republican party. We work for the American people.’
President Joe Biden with Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, Gonzalez said Biden indicated he wants to come back to the border for another visit
President Joe Biden touring the border with (left to right): Peter Flores, Deputy Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Jason Owens, Chief, U.S. Border Patrol and Gloria Chavez, Sector Chief, U.S. Border Patrol
Former President Donald Trump gave a wave to migrants through a barbed wire fence
During the president’s visit, border agents briefed Biden on their needs – from more personnel to more technology to help them combat illegal crossings.
Biden’s trip was panned by critics as a campaign ‘photo op’ began with his motorcade driving along the 20-foot fence separating the United States and Mexico.
The 81-year-old then met with members of the Border Patrol, hours after the head of their union warned Biden to ‘keep our name out of your mouth’.
The 2024 rivals headed to Texas with recent polls showing immigration becoming the number one concern for most Americans.
Trump stook a strong stand against illegal migration during his trip.
‘You’re in a war,’ the 77-year-old Republican frontrunner told frontline agents in Eagle Pass. ‘This is a military operation.’
‘We have languages coming into our country that nobody speaks those languages.’
Trump also revealed he had spoken to the parents of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old student jogger murdered in Georgia. An illegal immigrant has been charged with killing her. Trump said her mother and father will ‘never be the same’ and that Biden will ‘never say her name.’
The former president was briefed by Gov. Abbott and members of the Texas National Guard. Guardsmen we’re waiting for him when he arrived near a boat ramp that law enforcement uses to access the river.
At the boat ramp the body of a drowned migrant was brought ashore on Wednesday.
Trump spent ten minutes at the ramp and was seen shaking his head as he was briefed.
Abbott said Biden had ‘lied to America’ about the border, and accused the president of “aiding and abetting illegal entry” and wanting to ‘tear down’ defenses put up by Texas.
‘The United States is being invaded. Joe Biden is not doing his job,’ Abbott said.
Meanwhile, while Biden, 81, was given a tour of the Rio Grande, security was tight. A boat was in the water, trucks and ATVs surrounded the area, and a drone flew overhead.
Nearby, cars flying Trump flags were parked where Biden could see them. At the airport, the president was greeted with protesters demanding a ceasefire in Gaza.
Biden stood by the river, speaking to the agents, as Trump arrived at Eagle Pass for his own tour at the busy migrant passage area.
President Biden gets a tour of the border from CBP agents at the Rio Grande River in Brownsville, Texas
As the president, 81, was given a tour of the migrant crossing area, security was tight. A boat was in the water, trucks and ATVs surrounded the area, and a drone flew overhead
The two men’s location were a contrast in images. Trump is in Eagle Pass, which remains a migration hot spot while crossings in Brownsville have dropped dramatically.
Biden walked along the Rio Grande, a boat in the background and police cars around him. Trump walked along the border fence, waving to migrants who could seem him through the concertina wire.
The main thrust of Biden’s message was about House Republicans’s failure to pass a bipartisan border package already approved by the Senate. Conservatives argue the legislation is not strong enough to combat illegal immigration.
The bill included over $20 billion for border security that would add new Customs and Border Patrol agents, add more asylum officers to increase that process time, and add more immigration judges.
Democrats accuse the GOP of election year politics. Trump, who is Biden’s likely rival in the 2024 presidential election, has come out against the legislation.
In Brownsville, border crossings have dropped dramatically in the past months, after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott had miles of the wire fencing installed as part of Operation Lone Star, which he signed into law in December.
Internal CBP data for all border patrol stations in February – obtained by Fox News – shows that the Brownsville area had about 462 apprehensions, which averages out to about 17 per day.
That makes Brownsville, Texas, the 29th busiest border patrol station for the month. The number one station was Three Points in Tucson, Arizona, sector, which has recorded more than 13,900 apprehensions in February.
Republicans blasted Biden’s trip as a ‘photo-op.’
Speaker Mike Johnson accused Biden of going merely for the optics.
‘Brownsville is the 29th ranked hotspot. Why would he go to the 29th? Because he doesn’t really want to see the reality,’ he said Thursday.
At a House Republican leadership news conference, many of the leaders repeatedly accused Biden of a ‘photo op.’
‘President Biden goes down to the border today for a photo op,’ Majority Leader Steve Scalise said. ‘He has the authority today to fix this problem that he created.’
The White House has said it’s House Republicans who are turning the border into a ‘political stunt.’
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pushed back against GOP criticism of Biden’s trip, noting it was House Republicans who refused to bring up a vote on a bipartisan border security bill after Trump came out against it.
‘Oh, it’s very different. What House Republicans have done is nothing, absolutely nothing. If anything, they consistently get in the way,’ she said during her press briefing.
‘They are turning this into a political stunt by listening to Donald Trump and saying that they need to kill it. This is what they’ve been doing and making it political where the President got his team now directed his team to work with senators, both Republicans and Democrats to get a bill done.’
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