Abigail Shimniok

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump both appeared at the U.S.-Mexico border on Feb. 29 to gauge the current issues pertaining to immigration.
Biden, who visited Brownsville, TX, stated during his visit that Congress should pass the bipartisan border security deal that was rejected early in Feb. by the Republican party after Trump had been outspoken against it.
Biden was also briefed by Homeland Security officials on the current state of the border and what they believed needed to
be done, being that they needed increased funding for hiring officers and speeding up the process of asylum.
Trump, on the other hand, arrived at Eagle Pass and met with the Texas National Guard as well as Governor Greg Abbott. Trump believes the bill would be ineffective and that more extreme measures should be taken against undocumented immigrants.
The bipartisan bill which the two candidates have fought over would include over $20 billion for border security funding. With this money, they plan to add over 1,500 new personnel to the already existing 20,000 at the border, as well as adding around 4,300 asylum officers to the existing 1,000 in order to make the process of asylum-seeking more efficient and fairer.
It would also add 10,000 more beds for detention centers at the border, 100 new immigration judges, the installation of 100 inspection machines at the border to detect fentanyl and $1.4 billion for cities and states who provide services for new immigrants, effectively speeding up the obtaining of work permits as well.