President Joe Biden plans to visit the southern border on Thursday in a rare move that just so happens to coincide with Donald Trump's own border stop.
However, Biden is doing so to call out the Republicans for blocking border legislation he believes will make the country more secure.
According to a White House official, the president will visit Brownsville, Texas to meet with Border Patrol agents, as well as other law enforcement individuals and local leadership.
Former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, will visit Eagle Pass, Texas, which is 325 miles away from Brownsville.
It will be Biden's second trip to the border as president and comes at a time of surging migration along the U.S.-Mexico border. Analysts believe it is one of his biggest weak spots.
In a shift that is historically unheard of from Democrats, Biden has embraced tough rhetoric on border safety and blamed the GOP for miring his efforts after they killed his legislation last month at the urging of Trump. It would have been some of the toughest border restrictions in decades if passed.
"Every day between now and November, the American people are going to know that the only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican friends," Biden said after Republicans blocked the border bill from getting a Senate vote.
Biden's only other visit to the southern border came in January 2023, when he stopped in El Paso, Texas, en route to meet with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador about stemming migration.
Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign's national press secretary, slammed Biden's visit in a statement, arguing he's not going to solve the border problem but because "Biden is losing terribly."
"Biden's last-minute, insincere attempt to chase President Trump to the border won't cut it," Leavitt said. "Americans know Biden is single-handedly responsible for the worst immigration crisis in history."
"He will reiterate his calls for congressional Republicans to stop playing politics and to provide the funding needed for additional U.S. Border Patrol agents, more asylum officers, fentanyl detection technology and more," White House press secretary Jean-Pierre said.
