--- title: How a Dead Border Deal Led to a Trump-Biden Border Duel description: Trump and Biden blamed each other for the immigration crisis at different locations on the U.S.-Mexico border. They're both right. canonical: https://time.com/6836628/trump-biden-border-deal/ author: Eric Cortellessa article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-03-01T00:51:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T07:40:05.724Z article:section: Politics og:title: How a Dead Border Deal Led to a Trump-Biden Border Duel og:description: Trump and Biden blamed each other for the immigration crisis at different locations on the U.S.-Mexico border. They're both right. og:url: https://time.com/6836628/trump-biden-border-deal/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf61a52aba37f473/698a490209208f7e5041ba31/GettyImages-2041440993.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: US-VOTE-POLITICS-BIDEN-MIGRATION og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How a Dead Border Deal Led to a Trump-Biden Border Duel twitter:description: Trump and Biden blamed each other for the immigration crisis at different locations on the U.S.-Mexico border. They're both right. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf61a52aba37f473/698a490209208f7e5041ba31/GettyImages-2041440993.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How a Dead Border Deal Led to a Trump-Biden Border Duel > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=553c80d8-b096-4bc7-905f-d2ab53b455d2&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: DC Report: The State of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election [Watch (HLS stream): DC Report: The State of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/CQJg0pUX.m3u8) (5:24)  _Published 2024-03-11. TIME Senior Politics Reporter Brian Bennett breaks down the state of the 2024 presidential election and what lies ahead._  by [Eric Cortellessa](https://time.com/author/eric-cortellessa/)  ## Eric Cortellessa Senior Correspondent Mar 1, 2024 12:51 AM UTC TIME Senior Politics Reporter Brian Bennett breaks down the state of the 2024 presidential election and what lies ahead.  by [Eric Cortellessa](https://time.com/author/eric-cortellessa/)  ## Eric Cortellessa Senior Correspondent Mar 1, 2024 12:51 AM UTC When Donald Trump stepped off his plane and onto the Texas tarmac, he approached a pool of reporters awaiting his arrival. “Nice weather. A very beautiful day,” he said. “But a very dangerous border. We’re gonna take care of it.” The former President’s trip to the southern border was more than one of his trademark spectacles; it was designed to highlight a signature campaign theme as he transitions toward the general election. But his rival, President Joe Biden, isn’t ceding the field. Just as Trump was touring Eagle Pass, Texas, on Thursday, Biden was visiting another border town roughly 300 miles away. By torpedoing a bipartisan immigration reform bill, Biden argued, Trump was trying to engineer a continuation of the crisis for his own political gain. “Instead of telling members of Congress to block this legislation,” Biden said to Trump, “join me.” The split-screen moment reveals the centrality of immigration as a 2024 election issue. Recent polls [have](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4422273-immigration-overtakes-inflation-top-voter-concern-poll/) [found](https://news.gallup.com/poll/611135/immigration-surges-top-important-problem-list.aspx#:~:text=Gallup%20started%20compiling%20mentions%20of,the%20highest%20in%20Gallup's%20trend.) immigration to be the most important concern to voters, surpassing the economy, inflation, and crime. That doesn’t come out of nowhere. The surveys were conducted as the border situation worsens, with [record levels](https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-crossings-mexico-biden-18ac91ef502e0c5433f74de6cc629b32) of illegal crossings in recent months. U.S. Customs and Border Protection tallied nearly 250,000 arrests in December alone, up 31% from November. To that end, a bipartisan group of senators recently negotiated a border security package that would restrict immigration by tightening the requirements to claim asylum and allocating billions in funding to expand border security and increase detention capacity. The proposal was partly fueled by Republicans’ insistence that they wouldn’t pass additional aid for Israel and Ukraine without increased border security. It marked a rare occasion on Capitol Hill, where Republicans and Democrats hardly eat meals together anymore let alone craft legislation. But once Trump [castigated](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/27/trump-border-biden/) the measure last month, [spurring](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republicans-kill-border-bill-sign-trumps-strength-mcconnells-waning-in-rcna137477) a rebellion from right-wing MAGA populists in both chambers, it was destined to fail. The swift opposition by Republicans, who had been calling for just such a proposal, seemed like a blatant attempt to keep the border emergency aflame when voters cast ballots in November. Then, a week later, House Republicans [impeached](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/13/us/politics/mayorkas-impeachment-house.html) Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas—not over alleged actions that might constitute a high crime or misdemeanor, but over the administration’s border policies. It was the first time in American history that Congress impeached a sitting cabinet secretary. The gambit was a sign that Trump and his allies see an immigration outcry as one of their best opportunities to reclaim the White House. **Read more**: [_As Trump Vies to Blows Up Border Deal, Migrant Crisis Could Get Worse_](https://time.com/6836628/trump-biden-border-deal/) But for Biden, it represents a chance to turn the border into a liability for Republicans. “You know and I know it’s the toughest, most efficient, most effective border security bill this country has ever seen,” he said in Brownsville, Texas, on Thursday. “This bill was in the United States Senate, was on its way to being passed, and then was derailed by rank and file, partisan politics.” Biden launched his presidency by signaling he would be the antithesis of Trump on immigration. After four years of an administration widely viewed as the most hostile to immigrants in decades, punctuated by its practice of separating children from their families, Biden reversed nearly all of his predecessor’s policies. He announced a 100-day moratorium on deportations, which was swiftly overturned by the courts; he halted construction of the border wall; and he stopped Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” initiative, which sent non-Mexican asylum seekers south of the border until their U.S. court date. (Biden restarted the program in December 2021, after a federal judge [ruled against](https://www.texastribune.org/2022/12/16/remain-in-mexico-mpp-judge-ruling-migrants/) the White House’s attempt to terminate it.) He also sought to discontinue Title 42, a controversial Trump-era pandemic measure that let border officials expel migrants without letting them apply for asylum. A federal judge blocked Biden from ending the program until it was [automatically terminated](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-is-title-42-policy-immigration-what-happens-ending-expiration/) last May, once the national Covid-19 public health emergency expired. But since the border crisis has intensified, Biden has pivoted to a more aggressive posture, undercutting a 2020 campaign theme to allow more migrants to enter the country. He’s overseen a record number of deportations and he vowed to shut down the border if Congress sent him the border security deal. “I think there's no question that that is a product of political pressure,” says Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of UCLA’s Center for Immigration Law and Policy. In many Republicans’ eyes, the bipartisan deal was inadequate. The GOP-controlled House passed a more expansive and restrictive border bill last year, [H.R.2](https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/2), that would not only reduce the grounds for claiming asylum, but force Biden to finish Trump’s border wall. While Trump allies will cite H.R.2 as the new benchmark for immigration reform, critics say that’s only a pretext for them to have rejected a compromise. Democrats also point to Republicans suddenly downplaying the need for any kind of legislation, period, when a border bill has been one of the foremost priorities of the conservative movement for decades. “I believe the president can take executive authority right now,” House Speaker Mike Johnson [told](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/29/congress-immigration-no-action/?nid=top%5Fpb%5Fsignin&arcId=PDKUW25WT5G63JWCCY5XWTMBFA&account%5Flocation=ONSITE%5FHEADER%5FARTICLE) reporters after a meeting with Biden on Monday. It’s not that simple. Legal experts say that Biden can’t unilaterally override immigration law without legislation. The current federal statute [requires](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1158) the U.S. government to grant asylum to persons who have been forcibly displaced or who reasonably fear persecution in their home country. “Presidents do have a lot of authority when it comes to immigration, because immigration touches on sovereignty and foreign relations,” says Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration lawyer and Cornell Law School professor. “However, any president's authority is not unlimited.”  Trump supporters gather ahead of his visit to the US-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, TX, on Feb. 29, 2024 SERGIO FLORES—AFP via Getty Images Trump and his loyalists have signaled that they don't want Biden to be able to claim any kind of victory on the border. Rather, they are betting that they will have a better chance in November with an ongoing immigration surge, and the promise that Trump will fix it come January. If he returns to the Oval Office, Trump has pledged to order the largest deportation of migrants from the United States ever, rounding up and expelling millions annually. He has also refused to rule out separating families again. In the meantime, after putting the kibosh on the Senate immigration deal, Trump has doubled down on a clear campaign strategy: to brand the border crisis as his successor’s failing. “This is a Joe Biden invasion,” he said Thursday. “This is a Biden-vasion.” ## Transcript [00:00] Let's talk politics calendar says March but in terms of the 2024 [00:04] election, it seems we're ready to talk about November been a big [00:07] month already dominated by super Tuesday Supreme Court rule in [00:11] the trunk and stay on the ballot Nikki Haley suspending [00:14] her campaign and by the State of the Union Address we've entered a [00:18] new state of play. [00:19] We're already in the general election season with two main candidates, [00:22] Joe Biden and Donald Trump. [00:24] There's a triangle have three main issues that will come up again [00:27] and again and the gration the economy and abortion Republicans [00:32] will push the immigration issue hard to potent and fear base [00:35] symbol of failure. [00:36] I wish they'd blame on Biden at Biden has tried to push back [00:39] on that by saying that Republicans are blocking his efforts [00:42] a border reform specifically to hire more border patrol agents [00:46] and a phylum officers who can hear the case is faster and sent [00:49] people back to their home countries more quickly that border [00:52] package is supported by Republicans and Democrats in the Senate, [00:55] but Donald Trump told House Republicans to block it. [00:58] So it's dead in the water. [00:59] Vikings playing Biden for the problem on the border and abiding [01:02] now blames Republicans and Trump forgot working with him to come [01:06] up with a solution turn into the economy. [01:07] Republicans are playing on a general sentiment that the economy [01:12] feels bad folks are legitimately mad that food prices have gone [01:16] up in recent years as have some daily expenses. [01:19] But even though people don't feel it the broad National [01:22] Economic numbers have been very positive underbite there have [01:25] been a few layout to Tech and media, [01:27] but overall unemployment is at record lows. [01:31] I didn't have an opportunity now to better Trump at the realities [01:34] that things are not as bad as people feel the US economy [01:37] is the strongest have any developed country coming out of pandemic [01:40] inflation has slowed down. [01:41] The stock market is high and US energy production is up whether or [01:46] not voters were here. [01:47] It is a different matter none of Reproductive Rights. [01:50] The Biden campaign is betting that abortion restrictions [01:52] put in place after the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. [01:55] Wade will motivate Democrats and turn out of Bayside and will [01:58] focus on the recent call. [01:59] Pulling in Alabama that equates Frozen embryos to children [02:03] and his friend access to IVF treatments for families wanted to [02:06] have kids publican's in Alabama have rushed to protect [02:09] IVF providers in the lake about ruling but it's a powerful [02:12] Tipping Point for Democrats Biden tries to expand his Coalition [02:16] and reach out to women in the suburbs with traditionally [02:21] voted Republican, but have been turned off for the Republican [02:23] Party since the pre-recorded took away abortion protection. [02:27] Their big vulnerabilities were both candidates, of course [02:29] Trump faces ongoing legal troubles trouble be on trial in New [02:33] York at the end of March on accusations of financial fraud [02:36] related to covering up hush money payments to keep his alleged [02:39] affair with a pornstar out of the public eye before the 2016 [02:43] election Trump also faces charges of refusing to turn classified [02:46] documents and try to overturn the 2020 election results. [02:50] Now, this is a big thing for Democrats going after Donald [02:53] Trump. They say that him coming back to office would be a threat [02:56] to democracy. Now you have to remember that Trump himself [02:58] is already set. [02:59] You would be a dictator on day one. [03:01] When he said he would reinstate the heart travel ban on several [03:05] muslim-majority countries that he had put in place in his first [03:07] term and he is also promised to carry out the largest deportation [03:11] operation ever in US history. [03:12] Trump's also said he would use a digital system to punish [03:15] his political enemies and then providing there's a date polling [03:19] shows of Voters are concerned about Biden's physical and mental [03:21] acuity if he does a second term is 81 years old and fighting [03:26] himself says watch me he acknowledges that is old and jokes about [03:29] it. And he says that voters should judge him by what has [03:33] gotten done in office passing infrastructure spending care for [03:36] veterans investments in microchip manufacturing inside the US [03:40] and massive investments in climate now Trump himself is only [03:43] four years younger than buying and 77 and Democrats and pointed [03:47] to Trump's family name of the campaign Trail as well. [03:49] Another donor ability for Biden is Israel in the war in Gaza. [03:53] A vaccine is a problem providing in that it's split up his base [03:57] in recent primaries, especially, Minnesota this week. [04:00] Part of the space and voted uncommitted to send a signal to buy [04:03] them that they're angry about is Clement Israel in his inability [04:05] to negotiate a cease-fire and get more Aid in the Gaza. [04:09] But on that issue Trump doesn't offer an alternative [04:12] for those voters who are unhappy with Vikings traces. [04:15] In fact Trump has doubled-down on support for the Netanyahu [04:18] government and it's unclear how that may play out in a general election. [04:21] I want to see what kind of Olive Branch Joe Biden [04:25] puts out to Hailey voters who were clearly to satisfy with Donald [04:28] Trump and see what Joe Biden does to try to bring them into [04:32] this Coalition. I'll also be watching how RFK Jr. [04:35] Fair he's going to be on the ballot in a few States and the [04:39] see if he's able to take those from Joe Biden in a tight race [04:42] and one of the biggest takeaways from the 2024 election [04:45] has been how unpopular the choices are both Biden and Trump [04:49] are underwater and approval ratings. [04:51] Many many voters have not even tuned in to the race. [04:55] And those that have for them many are unhappy with those choices [04:59] that they have an I dread the outcome either way, [05:01] but I'll be on the campaign trail with Biden. I'll [05:04] be covering Trump's trials. [05:05] I'll be flying on Air Force One is buying into the number [05:08] of stops and keep out of ground States my colleagues and I will [05:11] do our best to bring you the most important issues of the election [05:14] unfolds. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6836628/trump-biden-border-deal/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6836628/trump-biden-border-deal/"},"headline":"How a Dead Border Deal Led to a Trump-Biden Border Duel","datePublished":"2024-03-01T00:51:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-19T07:40:05.724Z","description":"Trump and Biden blamed each other for the immigration crisis. 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