Biden heads to border to face crisis he admits has no easy fix

Bloomberg

President Joe Biden will confront one of his biggest political liabilities head-on, as he pays a visit to the US border with Mexico in El Paso, Texas.
Biden will see first-hand conditions for migrants and the US officials who process them as they cross from Mexico. He’s facing calls from Democrats and Republicans to more quickly process cases, resettle lawful claimants and deport people deemed ineligible.
Since Biden entered the White House, the US has seen an increase in migration from Latin America — one he attributes to a range of factors, including people fleeing dictatorial and socialist regimes to seek a better life in the US, but which his critics say is fueled by his rejection of hard-line measures to flatly stop crossings.
Congress has balked at immigration reform or major new funding, leaving Biden few
options. The US continues to
employ pandemic-era border controls known as Title 42 to quickly expel migrants. The president acknowledged there is no easy fix as he announced new measures to address the border situation.
“Our problems at the border didn’t arise overnight and they’re not going to be solved overnight. It’s a difficult problem,” Biden said.
But he also lashed out at Republicans for what he called
“inflammatory” talk about migration and urged them to work across the aisle to approve immigration legislation and additional border-security funds.
“Immigration reform used to be a bipartisan issue. We can make it that way again. It’s not only the right thing to do, it’s economically a smart thing to do,” Biden said. “It’s so easy to demagogue this issue.”
Biden’s visit comes as Congress prepares to probe the situation at the border.
The election of Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker — after 15 votes where hard-line conservatives flexed their political muscle to extract concessions — will set in motion a series of Republican-led investigations, with the border situation among the most high-profile.
Biden is visiting El Paso on his way to Mexico City, where he will meet on Monday and on Tuesday with the leaders of Canada and Mexico at the North American Leaders’ Summit, commonly called the “Three Amigos” gathering.