Biden says he may make first visit to U.S.-Mexico border next week

President Biden said Wednesday that he is planning to visit the U.S. southern border next week as part of a trip to Mexico City for a regional summit.

“That’s my intention,” the president told reporters who asked about his plans for a border visit. Biden made the comments during a trip to Kentucky for a meeting with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to discuss federal infrastructure funding.

The president’s Republican critics have pressured him for months to visit the southern U.S. border at a time when federal authorities are making record numbers of immigration arrests. Biden and his top officials have dismissed that criticism, insisting he’s had more urgent priorities to attend to.

It was not clear where Biden might stop along the U.S. southern border, nor whether he would make the visit before or after planned meetings in Mexico City on Monday. Biden is scheduled to sit down with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the North American Leaders’ Summit. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will join him on the trip.

John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, told reporters last month that Biden’s trip would feature new initiatives to “address climate and environmental challenges” and “help increase North America’s competitiveness, protect the health and safety of our citizens, jointly respond, of course, to irregular migration in the region, and advance diversity, equity and inclusion.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded nearly 2.4 million arrests along the Mexico border during the 2022 fiscal year, an all-time high. Since Biden took office, an increasing number of migrants have been arriving from a growing number of nations around the world, straining U.S. capacity and border communities. New arrivals typically surrender to U.S. authorities, the first step in applying for humanitarian protection. The majority are released into the United States while their cases are pending in U.S. immigration courts.

Recent attempts by the Biden administration to halt two Trump-era border polices, known as Title 42 and “Remain in Mexico,” have been blocked in the courts.

Tyler Pager contributed to this report.