What We Know: President Biden makes first trip to southern border amid outcry over migrant crisis

United States President Joe Biden made his first trip to the southern border with Mexico this weekend since becoming POTUS, arriving on Sunday evening in El Paso to meet with border enforcement officials.

When Biden arrived in El Paso on Sunday after sundown, he met with border officials, who gave him a tour of a section of the border wall and briefing him on the state of the port of entry, which has reportedly been overwhelmed in recent months with record numbers of migrants arriving ahead of the anticipated end of Title 42, which empowers border patrol to turn migrants away citing COVID-19 concerns.

According to reporters on the ground during the tour of the wall and a migrant processing facility, the President did not come into contact with any migrants. Border patrol says it is a coincidence that the facility had not received any migrants that day.

The President’s schedule for Monday included a visit to the National Palace in Mexico, the seat of the Mexican government. The Mexican government recently agreed to host a fixed number (30,000 at a time) of migrants turned away under Title 42 as they await processing of their applications for work visas and seek sponsorship.

Biden’s visit comes just days after the White House announced increased border security measures after the Supreme Court upheld Title 42, which allows the US to turn migrants away if they are from a specific list of countries. The list grew last week from just Venezuela with the Biden administration adding Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua.

The White House also introduced an application system for migrants from those countries who can apply for a two-year work visa under sponsorship by a US citizen.