Newsman: Former President Donald Trump plans to visit the southern border with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott later this month, he said in a statement on Tuesday. Former President Trump said in the statement that he was invited by Abbott, who has said Texas will pick up where the former president left off in building a border wall as he directs state troopers to begin arresting migrants, despite a 2012 ruling that stopped Arizona from enacting a similar plan. Federal authorities are charged with enforcing immigration laws. Abbott, meanwhile, is slated to lay out his border wall plans at a press conference Wednesday with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan.
This 30 trip comes as Republicans have hammered the Biden administration for months over record numbers of migrants encountered by border patrol, accusing President Joe Biden of creating a “crisis.” Border patrol encounters, however, began to rise at the end of Trump’s presidency. Trump said he hopes his visit will “shine a spotlight” on the issue.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection published new data last week showing 180,034 encounters on the southern border in May, a new high. The vast majority of those encounters — 121,082 — were with single adults, who are expelled immediately under a public health order issued during the coronavirus pandemic. Many of them then try to re-enter: Nearly 40 percent of the migrants encountered by border patrol had tried to cross at least once before in the last year, compared to an average re-encounter rate of 15 percent for the five years prior.
However, encounters with unaccompanied children, meanwhile, dropped 17 percent from April, with 14,158 reported in May. Encounters with families also declined — by 11 percent — with 44,639 reported in May. It marked the second month of declines for both, signaling the seasonal flow of migration to the border may be ebbing.
