Former President Donald Trump slammed President Joe Biden ahead of their showdown at the Texas border, saying Biden’s open-border policy has “betrayed our country.”
Immigration has become the No. 1 issue for voters ahead of the November election, prompting Trump and Biden to make their way to the southern border on Thursday, each competing for voters’ favorability on the matter.
“But do not be deceived,” Trump wrote in an op-ed in the Daily Mail ahead of the highly anticipated border visit. “The abolition of America’s borders is Joe Biden’s policy. The mass migration of millions of illegal aliens into the United States is Joe Biden’s plan. This is Joe Biden’s invasion.”
Trump noted his track record of maintaining a secure border throughout his presidency, touting his widely criticized implementation of a border wall and adding that when he left office, he “handed Biden the most secure border in U.S. history.”
Trump has long blamed the country’s overwhelming immigration crisis on Biden’s inability to secure the border. Trump wrote that since Biden became president, he ended Title 42, a code granting the government the ability to stop border crossings to curb the spread of COVID-19, as well as pause wall construction.
“He tied the hands of our ICE and Border Patrol agents behind their backs. He made it known to the entire world that our border was wide open,” Trump wrote.
Meanwhile, Biden has pointed the finger at Republican lawmakers and their reluctance to pass a border deal that would cut back on border crossings while also sending financial aid abroad to Ukraine and Israel, claiming the GOP was caving to Trump. The Biden administration collaborated with senators to negotiate the bipartisan border bill that would include Border Patrol agents and changes to asylum protocol. Now, the president is considering using executive action to make asylum restrictions.
However, Trump said Biden does not need legislation to combat the border crisis and that the president could end the problem at any time during his presidency.
“But the truth is, Joe Biden does not need a bill to solve the problem at the border — America needs to fire Joe Biden to solve the problem at the border,” the former president said.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Republican leaders have pointed to recent tragedies, such as young nursing student Laken Riley’s brutal death, as a result of Biden’s border policies. In his op-ed, Trump listed last year’s alarming crime statistics in which illegal immigrants accounted for 33,000 assaults and 1,700 homicides of 43% of all ICE arrests.
“Americans should not fall for Biden’s border lies,” he said. “He has betrayed your trust, and with his demolition of our borders, he has betrayed our country.”
