During a visit organized to “admire” his famous wall on the border with Mexico, this Wednesday, former President Donald Trump accused his successor Joe Biden of allowing “millions” of undocumented migrants to enter the country. United States, rediscovering the alarmist accents of the anti-immigration discourse which had brought him to the White House.
A “very dangerous” border, “a sick country”: letting the possibility of a new presidential candidacy hover in 2024, the Republican has lost none of his anxiety-provoking rhetoric in five months of “retirement” spent in his luxurious residences from Florida and New Jersey.
“More dangerous than ever”
It was in front of an unfinished section of high metal barrier, erected in Pharr, Texas, near a border crossing, that the former president concluded his first major field visit since leaving the House. White. “Millions of people manage to enter,” he said, without explaining this figure much higher than the official monthly reports. Alongside the governor of Texas Greg Abbott, accompanied by elected officials and Texas sheriffs wearing their cowboy hats, he came to “admire” the border wall erected in this valley of the Rio Grande under his presidency.
Democratic President Joe Biden “must finish building the wall,” urged the Republican governor, pointing to the section that suddenly stopped behind him. “We now have an open border, very dangerous, more dangerous than ever before in the history of our country,” the real estate mogul said earlier at a meeting in the small town of Weslaco, in his thirties. of kilometers of this barrier section.
“Disastrous”
“Build the wall! This cry had punctuated his campaign meetings before his election in 2016. This subject “had helped me to win” the ballot, he admitted Wednesday. During his four years as president, he said about 800 kilometers were completed, most of these portions being improvements to existing fences. For Republicans, it is obvious: the billionaire’s program worked, but the arrival of Joe Biden at the White House on the promise of a “more humane” migration policy created a “disastrous” call for air.
The spring was marked by record arrests on the southern border of the United States, 3,200 kilometers long. In May, some 180,000 people were arrested after crossing it illegally, a 15-year high. Denouncing the increase in drug trafficking and illegal arrivals, Greg Abbott decreed in mid-June that Texas would continue to build the border wall and he deployed military personnel from his state’s National Guard to the border. More than 2,000 kilometers to the north, the Republican governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, has just announced that she will also send soldiers.
“False election”
Democrats denounce political posturing and cite many factors that may have played in favor of this increase, while recalling the very controversial policy of Donald Trump. Under his presidency, nearly 4,000 migrant children had been separated from their families. More than 2,000 still had not yet reunited with their loved ones in early June. “For four years, Republicans have been silent while Trump sabotaged our immigration system,” Democratic Party spokesman Ammar Moussa said on Wednesday, calling the ex-president’s visit a “clown show “. Banned from social networks since the murderous assault on the Capitol by his supporters on January 6, Donald Trump remains nonetheless very influential in his party.
And he is determined to continue to influence American policy before the parliamentary and local mid-term elections in November 2022. After months of virtual silence, his schedule is accelerating. Next Saturday, he will hold another big meeting in Sarasota, Florida. The tribune rediscovered this supercharged atmosphere last Saturday in Ohio. In front of thousands of supporters, he repeated his unfounded allegations about the presidential election which would have been “stolen” from him. And indirectly evoked a new presidential candidacy in 2024. In Texas, he returned to these accusations, yet rejected by dozens of courts: “Biden is destroying our country and it all started with a false election.”
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