Sanchez Martinez dislikes Brownsville's dirt mining dust. Nathan Burkhart wants local talent in the city and Rio Grande Valley to boost the economy. Through his marketing skills, Mauricio Piña aims to boost voter turnout among local educators.
Former President Donald Trump and Joe Biden will visit Brownsville, 300 miles southeast of Eagle Pass, on Thursday. Sanchez, Burkhart, and Piña highlight other issues more directly affecting their lives than immigration.
Brownsville residents hope the nation will see that their city is more than media portrays, but Biden will use the visit to show that Republicans, at Trump's request, killed a bipartisan bill to increase immigration enforcement resources, asylum eligibility, and "shut down the border." Instead of fighting Congress, Trump will blame the Biden administration's immigration policy for the overflow.
Mixed immigration occurs here. US immigration may be a generation away for Border Patrol families. People cross the border daily to attend U.S. schools or Matamoros dentists. They understand firearms, drugs, and other harmful persons and commodities are two-way.
Brownsville native and IT professional mother of two Sanchez said, “This has been happening for quite some time.” “It always seems to wait until election year.”Sanchez said she spends a lot of time lobbying officials to control the mining site's dust and silica flying into her neighborhood. She worries about her kids' health.
She worries for her children as more migrants arrive and law enforcement can't process them.Rio Grande Valley Customs and Border Protection in Brownsville sees little migration. From January 2023, border patrol encounters declined 23% last month.
Since breaking Trump's Covid-era border closure, Biden has been criticized for record border crossings for most of his administration. Data implies Trump restricting legal avenues increased illegal crossings.
Democratic mayors and state politicians pressured Biden on immigration by protesting Republican governors sending Border Patrol migrants to Democrats.Chris Cabrera of the McAllen Border Patrol Council welcomed Biden because "hopefully we can get things fixed."
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