Biden says he intends to visit southern border on Mexico trip

President Biden on Wednesday told reporters that he intends to visit the southern border while he’s in Mexico next week.

The president said that arrangements to visit the border are being worked out but that the visit could take place before he goes to Mexico City for the North American Leaders’ Summit. The summit with Mexican and Canadian leaders is set to start on Jan. 9.

“That’s my intention. We’re working out the details now,” Biden said about visiting the border.

He will deliver a speech on Thursday on border security, Biden announced later on Wednesday, which will include more details on the trip.

When asked what he wants to see when he goes to the border, Biden responded, “Peace and Security. No. I’m going to see what is going on.”

The visit to the southern border would be Biden’s first since taking office. The president has faced criticism for months because he has not visited the border amid the migrant crisis.

The Supreme Court last month ordered that the Title 42 border policy must remain in place, reversing an order from a federal judge in Washington, D.C., who ruled that the Trump-era border policy must end.

Biden, who has been under pressure from Republicans to reinstate Title 42, last week said that the end to the policy is “overdue” but that it has to be enforced in the wake of the court’s decision. Title 42, implemented at the start of the pandemic, allows for migrants to be quickly expelled at the border without asylum processing.

The president has also recently renewed calls for Congress pass comprehensive immigration reform measures and for Republicans to “move past political finger-pointing” and join Democrats to solve the challenge at the border.

The White House, which has tried to declare that the southern border is not open even if Title 42 ends, is asking Congress for $3.5 billion in funding to help with the situation at the southern border.

Updated 5:13 p.m.