Biden Goes On Offense On His Weakest Issue: Illegal Border Crossings

President Joe Biden visited the U.S.-Mexico border Thursday, hoping to turn what has been a major campaign vulnerability into a weapon, following the demise — at the request of rival Donald Trump — of a bipartisan proposal that would have imposed the toughest immigration rules in decades.

“The majority of Democrats and Republicans of both houses support this legislation, until someone came along and said: ‘Don’t do that, it will benefit the incumbent.’ That’s a hell of a way to do business in America for such a serious problem,” Biden said during a visit to Brownsville, Texas. “It’s time for the speaker and some of my Republican friends in Congress who are blocking this bill to show a little spine.”

Earlier this month, the former president pressured his GOP allies to scuttle a sweeping immigration deal negotiated by the White House and both Democratic and Republican senators. Had it passed, it would have made it harder for migrants to claim asylum, increased the number of Border Patrol agents and improved detection of drugs being smuggled in.

In opposing the bill, Trump told his supporters in the Senate and the House that any legislation that helped reduce the number of migrants flowing into the country from Mexico would help Biden’s re-election this November and should therefore be blocked.

The GOP presidential frontrunner made his own visit to the Texas border Thursday coinciding with Biden’s.

“The United States is being overrun by Biden migrant crime,” he said during a stop at Eagle Pass, a point on the border that has seen the greatest number of crossings in recent months.

In his 15-minute remarks, Trump repeated many of the same lies on the topic that regularly feature in his rally speeches. He did not mention the