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WASHINGTON – Just three weeks after he traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border, President Joe Biden is back in Texas – not to draw attention to immigration issues but to raise money for his re-election campaign.
But the battle over border security is once again hijacking the president’s plans.
Hours before Biden landed in Dallas on Wednesday night to attend a pair of political fund-raisers, a federal appeals court heard arguments on whether a controversial new Texas law that could upend U.S. border policy should be allowed to take effect. The law could have significant ramifications not only on the question of who gets to police the nation’s borders, but also on this year’s presidential race.
On the flight to Texas, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre slammed the new Texas statute as “an extreme, unconstitutional law that will burden law enforcement and make communities less safe.”
“It is part of a political stunt that we continue to see from the governor of Texas,” she said. Jean-Pierre added that congressional Republicans could fix problems on the border by passing a bipartisan border security bill that they blocked at the urging of former President Donald Trump.
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Polls show that immigration and border security are key issues for voters as Biden gears up for what is expected to be a brutal rematch this fall with Trump, who is running on a tough-on-immigration platform and has blamed Biden for an influx of illegal crossings at the border.
Biden and Trump held dueling visits to the border in Texas on the same day last month – but 325 miles apart. Biden walked along a section of the border in Brownsville and received a briefing from federal immigration agents. Trump traveled to Eagle Pass, where he viewed razor wire the Texas National Guard erected along a 29-mile stretch of border upon the orders of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.
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The razor wire and the state border law that is tied up in the courts are part of a larger ongoing battle between Abbot and the Biden administration over how to secure the U.S.-Mexico border. Texas officials have blamed Biden for an increase in illegal border crossings that they say has drained state resources and threatened public safety.
The Republican-backed law, known as S.B. 4, would empower state officials to detain and deport migrants entering or living in the United States illegally. Entering Texas illegally or re-entering the state from a foreign country would become a state crime under the law, and state judges would be allowed to order violators to leave the United States. Those who refuse to comply could face prison sentences of up to 20 years.
The Justice Department sued, arguing that immigration policy and the management of U.S. borders are the domain of the federal government and that the Texas law, which was opposed by Democrats and civil rights groups, is a constitutional infringement on that power.
The law was scheduled to take effect on March 5, but has been on hold while the Justice Department challenges it in court.
In a decision that caused chaos and confusion, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the law to take effect for a few hours on Tuesday when it sent the case back to a federal appeals court to decide whether the hold should stand while the Biden administration’s appeal works its way through the courts. A three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put the law back on hold a few hours later and held a hearing Wednesday on whether it should remain in place during the appeal.
The hearing ended without a decision, leaving Texas unable to enforce the law for now.
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At his first campaign fundraiser Wednesday night, border security was one of several issues that Biden brought up in front of 100 guests gathered in the back yard of a private residence.
Trump has Biden to tried to pin the crisis at the border on Biden, arguing that he is solely responsible for it and is unable to deal with it effectively. Biden, however, said it was Trump who has caused turmoil at the border by persuading Republicans to ditch the bipartisan border bill.
“Trump didn’t just bring chaos to Americans,” he said, “he also brought chaos to the American border.”
“Unlike Trump,” Biden added, “I’m not gonna demonize immigrants.”
Biden is scheduled to attend another fund-raiser in Houston on Thursday before returning to Washington later in the day.
Michael Collins covers the White House. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @mcollinsNEWS.
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