Analysis: There is no political ulcer that bleeds and throbs as badly as the US-Mexico border, writes US Correspondent Logan Church.
In Matamoros, Mexico, just south of the US-Mexico border, migrants trying to get into the US have set up a makeshift camp.
Broken tents in a hot, dry wasteland are their new home as they try and get asylum into the US.
"Some people arriving in Matamoros don't know where to go, to what shelter, or to what camp," Gladys Edith CaƱas Aguilar, a migrant support advocate there, told the Associated Press.
"There is no way for them to get an appointment. Right now, it takes six months and some weeks to wait for the appointment. They are here because they want to go in in a legal, orderly and humane way, in accordance with the law."
The US border is as broken and battered as it ever was, with record numbers of migrants turning up seeking access to the US ā to them, a land of dreams and a future they could never achieve back home.
It's also turned into the defining issue of this election.
Both President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump visited parts of the border in Texas today.
It's not clear if their scheduling was coincidental but the message behind the trips was clear: That they (either Trump or Biden) were the man who knew how to fix the border once and for all.
"It's real simple, it's time to act. It's long past time to act," said Biden at a press conference in Brownsville, Texas, surrounded by border officers.
Not long after Trump spoke near the border in Eagle Pass.
He had just waved at a group of migrants in Mexico on the other side of a wire fence and the formidable Rio Grande.
"They love Trump," he said to the waiting news cameras, smiling.
Yep.
Illegal migration is set to be the deciding issue in November's election, US Correspondent Logan Church reports. (Source: 1News)
"This is a Joe Biden invasion over the past three years," he said in his press conference.
"I call him Crooked Joe because he's crooked and he's a terrible president, the worst president our country's ever had."
The problem for both men wanting a second term in the White House is neither of their track records on this issue are particularly outstanding.
Trump originally launched his 2016 campaign bid with a promise to build a "huge" wall and make Mexico "pay for it".
That didn't happen as he suggested it would.
Meanwhile, Biden's presidency has seen record numbers of migrants turn up at the border and increasing tension between local and federal authorities around how to deal with them.
He originally promised to undo Trump-era border restrictions (much of which, to be fair, were largely because of Covid), but has in recent months had to toughen his rhetoric on the issue after it started becoming a major political sore point.
He has recently been highly critical of Republicans who have tanked a bi-partisan deal in Congress that, if passed, would, among other things, have funded more resources for the border.
He even challenged Trump to join in in supporting it today.
"Instead of telling members of Congress to block this legislation, join me or I'll join you in telling the Congress to pass this bipartisan border security bill. We can do it together," he said.
No one is particularly holding their breath waiting for a Biden-Trump border brotherhood to manifest itself.
"The United States is being overrun by the Biden migrant crime," Trump preached.
"It's a new form of a vicious violation to our country ā it's migrant crime."
It was quite remarkable to see Biden at the border at all, let alone at the same time as Trump. It's an easy opportunity to attack the president by Trump and his allies. Texas is Trump country after all ā and it's true the situation is not better there under Biden's administration.
One thing is clear though ā at this point, this problem, and its proposed solution, will likely be the one that decides this election.
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