EL PASO, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott made a surprise visit to El Paso to deliver a note to President Joe Biden as he stepped off Air Force One for his brief visit to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Abbott made the appearance on the tarmac as the plane taxied in from the runway and was the first person to greet Biden and three Democratic members of Congress as they deplaned Sunday afternoon.
Biden steps off Air Force One and speaks with @GovAbbott. He was accompanied on his flight by @RepCuellar @RepGonzalez @RepEscobar. No republicans from Texas border districts were invited, including @RepTonyGonzales who has 800 miles of 2,000-mile border in his district pic.twitter.com/1IwJkPtlek
— Anna Giaritelli (@Anna_Giaritelli) January 8, 2023
Abbott handed Biden a one-page letter with a list of actions the Biden administration ought to take to reduce the number of immigrants attempting to cross the southern border after another record-high year. The letter criticized Biden’s first presidential border trip as “$20 billion too little and two years too late.”
“This chaos is the direct result of your failure to enforce the immigration laws that Congress enacted,” Abbott wrote in the letter. “Your open-border policies have emboldened the cartels, who grow wealthy by trafficking deadly fentanyl and even human beings. Texans are paying an especially high price for your failure, sometimes with their very lives, as local leaders from your own party will tell you if given the chance.”
The letter also raised concerns that El Paso had been “sanitized” prior to the president’s arrival, with the city clearing out some immigrant camps on the streets.
Biden received the letter on the tarmac and signaled to Abbott he wanted to move forward.
MAYORKAS SAYS ABBOTT ‘NOT COLLABORATING’ WITH FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ON BORDER CRISIS
“He said he wanted to work with us on it,” Abbott told reporters at the airport.
Asked later during a border tour about Abbott’s letter, Biden responded: “I haven’t read it yet.”
Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have accused Republicans of exploiting the immigrant crisis for political gain.
“Gov. Abbott is not collaborating with the federal government on an issue that requires collaboration,” Mayorkas said Sunday on ABC News’s This Week.
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Biden is scheduled to spend about three hours in El Paso on Sunday before heading off to Mexico for the “North American Leaders’ Summit.”
