Former President Trump said Saturday that he will likely visit the southern border “over the next couple of weeks” to get a firsthand look at the worsening border crisis created by a surge of migrants entering the U.S.
Trump said during an interview on Fox News’ Justice with Judge Jeanine that “a lot of people” want him to visit the border.
“The Border Patrol and all of the people of ICE, they want me to go,” Trump said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “I really feel I sort of owe it to them, they’re great people.”
Asked when he planned to visit, Trump said probably “over the next couple of weeks.”
“Border Patrol wants me to go — probably over the next couple of weeks. I don’t think there’s a rush for me to go, he’s supposed to go and make the decisions,” Trump said referring to President Biden.
The former president added that he “didn’t want to set a schedule” though he maintained that he would likely travel to the border “over the next few weeks.”
Trump’s comments come amid a worsening crisis at the border as officials struggle to keep up with an influx of migrants — especially unaccompanied minors — at the border.
As of Thursday, there were more than 18,000 unaccompanied minors in Border Protection and Health and Human Services custody. The increase has caused delays at processing centers that are required, by law, to transfer children to HHS shelters in under 72 hours.
Biden told reporters last week that he would visit the border “at some point.”
A group of 19 Republican lawmakers visited a migrant processing and holding center in Donna, Texas on Friday. Senator Mike Braun (R., Ind.), who was part of that group, said a Biden official had asked the senators to delete photos they had taken of the facility, which is operating at 700 percent capacity.
Photos reveal children sleeping on the ground on mats and migrants crowded into enclosed pods.
After the visit, Braun wrote a letter to the president urging him to visit the border himself.
“The crisis surrounding this surge makes it a moral imperative for you to see firsthand what is happening—and not the sanitized version of the border tour taken by some of my congressional colleagues,” Braun wrote. “Having personally gone this week, I can testify to this being an inhumane, unsustainable and dangerous situation.
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