President Biden on Sunday was greeted in El Paso, Texas, by Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who earlier in the day was criticizing the administration over not communicating with local officials about the president’s trip to the southern border until the night before.
Abbott shook Biden’s hand on the tarmac and handed him a letter from Abbott addressed to Biden criticizing him for the visit.
“Your visit to our southern border with Mexico today is $20 billion too little and two years too late,” the letter read.
Texas Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar, Veronica Escobar and Vicente González also greeted the president, along with El Paso’s Democratic Mayor Oscar Leeser. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas also traveled with the president to Texas.
Biden then visited the Bridge of the Americas port, where Customs and Border Protection officers were lined up to meet him.
Sunday is Biden’s first trip to the southern border since taking office. Republicans for weeks lambasted Biden for not visiting sooner, criticizing his administration over border policies they deem to be too lenient.
Earlier on Sunday, Abbott accused the Biden team of failing to communicate with local officials about the president’s visit to El Paso.
“Listen, during this entire time, Joe Biden has not called me. He did not call me, nor [did] his staff call, and let us know, either about his visit or to invite us, until last night. We got a random e-mail to one of my staff members asking if I would be there to meet him on the tarmac,” Abbott said on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on the plane to El Paso that Abbott was invited and she understood that he would be at the airport when Biden landed.
Updated 3:56 p.m.
Source: The Hill
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