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Biden on the Border: A look back at President Biden’s visit to the El Paso Border

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President Biden speaks with Border Patrol agents along the U.S. Mexico wall in El Paso.
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January 8, 2023 9:42 PM
Published 10:36 PM

UPDATE (4:40 p.m.): Congresswoman Veronica Escobar will hold a news conference following President Biden's visit to El Paso. Congresswoman Escobar will be joined by:

  • Congressman Vicente González (TX-34)
  • El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego
  • El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser
  • Bishop Mark Seitz of the Catholic Diocese of El Paso
  • Andrea Hutchins, CEO, El Paso Chamber

UPDATE (4:32 p.m.): Air Force One departs El Paso with President Biden onboard on his way to Mexico City and the North American Leaders Summit.

UPDATE (4:14 p.m.): When asked what he's learned at the border President Biden responded, "They need a lot of resources. We're going to get it for them.”

UPDATE (4:04 p.m.): We're getting reports that President Biden is heading towards the El Paso International Airport to depart for Mexico City where he will take part in the North American Leaders Summit.

UPDATE (3:43 p.m.): President Biden's stop at the wall along the U.S. Mexico Border lasted about 27 minutes. According to pool reports, President Biden said the government would provide every resource needed at the border and that he has not yet read Gov. Abbott's letter. The president pulled the letter out of his pocket to show the pool of reporters. Biden spoke to enforcement officers while at the wall.

UPDATE (3:28 p.m.): President Biden walked with several members of the Border Patrol along the wall. The section of the wall was 18 feet.

UPDATE (3:18 p.m.): The President's motorcade is almost at El Paso's Migrant Processing Center.

UPDATE (2:22 p.m.): President Biden's motorcade leaves Bridge of the Americas. He is expected to go to El Paso's Migrant Processing Center next.

UPDATE (1:55 p.m): While at the Bridge of the Americas, President Biden watched as a canine officer demonstrated how it could find a suitcase in a trunk. The dog went around the car once and stopped at the trunk.

The officers pulled out a suitcase and then took out what looked like fruit and a hunk of lunch meat.

President Biden also saw another demonstration showing how a chocolate lab could find a package of what looks like drugs or money from the backseat of a Chevy pickup.

President Biden met with Ray Provencio, Office of Field Operations, Director of Ports and Hector Macha, El Paso Director of Field Operations.

UPDATE (1:22 p.m.): Congresswoman Escobar tweets out her appearance on Face the Nation, in which she spoke about President Biden's El Paso visit

UPDATE (1:15 p.m.): City Representative Isabel Salcido, who asked President Biden to visit El Paso before his North American Leaders Summit in Mexico City, joined the president during his El Paso Visit.

 “It is a great honor to be a part of President Biden’s historic visit to our border community. This is President Biden’s first visit to the border so I look forward to joining him.”

“Our beautiful city of El Paso has been at the forefront of this unprecedented humanitarian migrant crisis. As I have said over-and-over again, we continue to put band-aids on bullet wounds. I plan to tell the President about the importance of rapidly assisting border communities who have to deal with the consequences of Congress not passing Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Cities like El Paso should not have to tap into their general fund to finance immigration-related matters. I will also convey that The White House must work with both Republicans and Democrats to finally pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform, similar to McCain-Kennedy.”  

UPDATE: (1:00 p.m.): Secretary Mayorkas said about border operations in El Paso:  “We surged 100 border patrol agents. We are I believe on Tuesday going to be opening up a new soft sided facility that will be able to process up to 1000 migrants.”

“We have surged up, emergency food and shelter, program funding to them also given them an extension on the expenditure of the funding already provided given the challenges they have faced,” said Mayorkas about the president's new asylum programs.

Mayorkas commented on what President Biden will see in El Paso: “I will tell you one thing that I think he's going to see firsthand. That is the incredible work of US customs and border protection of the border federal agents, the field office personnel as well to support others before I do them at night I really I'm very eager for him to see the ordinary work that they perform every day.”

UPDATE (12:48 p.m.): President Biden's motorcade arrives at the Bridge of the Americas. There he will review almost $700 million in improvements to El Paso's busiest border crossing.

UPDATE (12:48 p.m.): Tx. Governor Greg Abbott tells the media his conversation with Congresswoman Escobar was similar to the president. He said solutions already exist in federal law to secure the border.

UPDATE (12:37 p.m.): Bishop Seitz joins President Biden in the presidential motorcade.

UPDATE (12:25 p.m.): Air Force One has landed in El Paso

TRAFFIC ALERT (11:40 a.m.): Police are advising people to avoid Paisano near the Bridge of the Americas, where traffic will be blocked off due to the president's visit.

UPDATE (11:37 a.m): Texas Governor Greg Abbott criticized President Biden's visit to El Paso on his personal Twitter feed calling the visit a "sanitized version of El Paso." Gov. Abbott will be in El Paso to greet the president.

UPDATE (11:00 a.m.): Texas Sen. César Blanco, D-El Paso, issued the following statement on President Biden's visit:

“I applaud President Biden for visiting El Paso to see firsthand the humanitarian crisis on our border. I also want to thank Congresswoman Escobar for her tireless work securing federal resources and being instrumental in bringing President Biden to El Paso.

“In recent weeks, El Paso has been the epicenter of this humanitarian crisis, and while the Biden-Harris administration inherited a broken immigration system, I am hopeful President Biden’s visit will bring renewed urgency and focus to our Nation’s Capitol to fix our immigration system and secure our border in a safe, orderly, and humane manner.

“We need welcoming processing centers, and more asylum officers, immigration judges, CBP resources, and investments to modernize our ports of entry. And even though the Biden-Harris Administration has secured record funding for border security and management, we ultimately need Congress to act to truly fix our broken immigration system to stem the flow of unlawful crossings, provide pathways to citizenship, protect asylum seekers, and bolster our workforce and economy.”

Mexico sends federal agents to Juárez-El Paso border ahead of Biden visit - El Paso Matters

UPDATE (10:24 a.m.): Congresswoman Veronica Escobar will hold a news conference following President Biden's visit to El Paso. The news conference begins at 4:30 p.m. Congresswoman Escobar will be joined by:

  • Congressman Vicente González (TX-34)
  • El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego
  • El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser
  • Bishop Mark Seitz of the Catholic Diocese of El Paso
  • Andrea Hutchins, CEO, El Paso Chamber

UPDATE (10:08 a.m.): According to a White House official, President Biden will be joined by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Biden will also be joined by Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, Congressman Henry Cuellar, Congressman Vicente Gonzalez, El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser and El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego.

President Biden will visit El Paso's busiest land border crossing, the Bridge of the Americas Port of Entry. Biden will then visit the El Paso County Migrant Services Center, which uses FEMA funding to support struggling migrants.

An official says the White House will attempt to highlight El Paso "as a model for what can be done with the immense task of migrant management in the face of intense challenges the city has faced in the past month."

Update (9:57 a.m.): U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) issued this statement: “Finally, after 5.3 million illegal alien crossings with over a million who got away, President Biden is visiting the border. If President Biden seriously wants to address the crisis his administration created, he needs to visit McAllen, Eagle Pass, Del Rio, and Laredo, and talk to the communities ravaged by crime, the ranchers who find bodies on their land, the Border Patrol who are overwhelmed, and the families who have lost loved ones due to cross-border drug trafficking. Instead, he has spent two years gaslighting the American public about how bad things really are. If he’s serious, he needs to wake up, acknowledge reality, reverse his failed policies, and secure the border.”

Get the latest border stories in our ABC-7 Border Section. Watch special coverage on ABC-7 with Erik Elken and Stephanie Valle. Special coverage is between 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m., 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., and 5:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

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A delegation of Senators will tour the El Paso border Monday following the president's visit: U.S. Senators to tour El Paso Border and meet with city officials Monday

Sunday Schedule: President Biden’s El Paso schedule for Sunday

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