Biden visits U.S.-Mexico border for 1st time as president

U.S. President Joe Biden has visited the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday for the first time since taking office, amid a historic surge in illegal immigration and anger from both parties about how he is handling it.

The number of migrants apprehended trying to illegally cross the 2,000-mile border with Mexico has hit record highs.

The Border Patrol encountered during 12 months leading up to las October about 1.7 million migrants trying to cross illegally, the highest number since 1960.

Biden on Thursday said his administration would tighten immigration enforcement by blocking Cuban, Haitian and Nicaraguan migrants at the border, expanding the nationalities of those who can be expelled back to Mexico.

U.S. President set new immigration rules and will expand legal pathways to the U.S. for migrants from Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua while imposing new punishments for illegal entry.

The actions include extending a migrant parole process to allow entry and temporary work authorization for up to 30,000 people per month from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua.

The new rules are intended to convince more would-be migrants to apply to the U.S. from where they are, rather than making a long and dangerous trek to the border.

“The actions we’re announcing today will make things better, but will not fix the border problem completely. There’s more that has to be done,” Biden said.

Noteworthy, that Biden sent Congress an immigration reform plan on his first day in office two years ago, but it floundered due to opposition from Republicans, who also refused his $3.5 billion request to beef up border enforcement.