Biden Announces Visit to Southern Border After Months of Pressure Over Crisis

President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that he will visit the Southern Border after months of pressure over not doing so from Republicans and media like Fox News, as well as from Democrats and MSNBC.

“That’s my intention,” Biden told reporters during his trip to Kentucky. “We’re working out the details now.”

The visit would come when Biden heads down to Mexico next week. This would be Biden’s first visit to the border as president.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the administration was “strongly considering adding a visit to the border to the Mexico trip.” The outlet, citing a person familiar with planning the visit, stated “there would be no new policy announcement at the event if it occurs.”

As of Oct. 1, there have been 411,125 encounters at the Southern Border, according to U.S. Border Patrol. In 2022, there were almost 2.4 million encounters, or 644,258 more than in 2021.

Fox News has had extensive coverage of the border and immigration for years, covering migrants crossing the Rio Grande Valley from Mexico into Texas,

as well as the human and drug trafficking that has occurred at the border. In recent months, following major public interest and incidents such as Republican governors sending migrants elsewhere in the country, other media have dedicated increasing coverage highlighting the massive issues faced by border states.

It is unclear which part of the vast Southern Border Biden would visit. Vice President Kamala Harris visited the border in June 2021, albeit just El Paso as opposed to also the Rio Grande Valley.