Texas border cities offer Biden and Trump different backdrops for dueling visits
By VALERIE GONZALEZ and ELLIOT SPAGAT
Associated Press
McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Presidential visits to the border are usually short on substance and long on political theater and symbolism, starting with the choice of location. President Joe Biden and his rival and immediate predecessor, Donald Trump, are going to the Texas border Thursday, but Biden’s choice of Brownsville and Trump’s pick of Eagle Pass provide different backdrops. Brownsville lies in an area where illegal crossings have plunged in recent months, even when they rose elsewhere along the border. Eagle Pass has gone in the opposite direction after years of relative quiet during Trump’s presidency and before.