WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — In one of his first major trips post-presidency, former President Donald Trump will tour the U.S. Mexico border Wednesday with Governor Greg Abbott.
This visit by President Joe Biden’s predecessor comes as migrants are dying in the extreme heat trying to travel to the border.
Mexico immigration agents said Tuesday they found a migrant who suffocated to death in a tractor-trailer carrying more than 100 people.
Trump’s tour will be through the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. An area he visited on one of his last trips of his presidency.
Vice President Kamala Harris went to El Paso last Friday. She has been tasked by Biden to lead the administration’s response on immigration issues.
She has also visited several countries in Central America where many of the migrants travel from.
Republicans continue calling this the worst border crisis in American history with a dozen conservative lawmakers joining Trump’s trip to the border.
“Biden policies have incentivized people to come to this country illegally, and they’re bringing families, children are being used and abused as passports,” Texas Congressman Jodey Arrington said.
The influx of immigrants has not stopped with the extreme heat.
Triple-digit temperatures are being blamed for the deaths of four migrants in three days in west Texas, according to Nexstar affiliate The Border Report.
A local police chief stated at least six migrants have been found dead in the past month along the border in New Mexico.
“They were all people that have perished probably due to hydration, you know, heat strokes, heart attacks,” Sunland Park police chief Javier Guerra said.
The Biden administration defended the recent border surge with data showing immigration is cyclical and spikes as weather warms.
Regardless of the cycle, there has been an increase in children crossing the border without parents.
Harris addressed this rise in her trip to the northern triangle, focusing on the humanitarian crises that are the root causes of immigration.
Abbott will host the former president tomorrow, first to talk about border security, then the tour.
The governor says he’ll spend $250 million of state money to build a wall on Texas’ southern border, then use private donations for the remainder of the cost.
Texas Democrats in Congress have sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen asking her to block the governor from using COVID-19 relief funds for the border project, saying it would be a misuse of funds.