Trump heads to Texas border in final days to showcase wall

After days out of sight following Capitol siege, President Donald Trump travels to Texas to trumpet one of pillars of his presidency: his campaign against illegal immigration. Trump will be flying Tuesday to Alamo, Texas, a city in Rio Grande Valley near U.S-Mexican border. city is named after San Antonio mission where a small group of Texan independence-fighters fended off Mexican forces during a 13-day siege. Most of m died but mission became a symbol of resistance for Texans, who eventually defeated Mexican army.

Trump's visit - doubt a symbol of president's defiance comes as he spends final days of his presidency isolated, aggrieved and staring down prospect of a second impeachment after his supporters stormed U.S. Capitol last week in an effort to halt peaceful transition of power.

Aides have been urging president to instead use days he has left in office to highlight what y see as chief accomplishments of his presidency: a massive tax cut, his efforts to roll back federal regulations and transformation of federal courts with appointment of conservative judges. But Trump has repeatedly resisted ir efforts as he has remained ensconced in White House, behind closed doors, consumed by baseless allegations of voter fraud and conspiracies.

Indeed, trip will mark first time Trump has been seen in public since speech he delivered to his supporters Wednesday, egging m on to “fight” before Capitol violence. Trump is expected to deliver remarks highlighting his administration's efforts to curb illegal immigration and progress made on his signature 2016 campaign promise: building a “big, beautiful wall” across length of sourn border, an imposing structure made of concrete and reinforced steel.

Over time, Trump demanded modifications that have been largely rejected: He wanted it painted black to burn hands of those who touched it; he wanted it adorned with deadly spikes; he even wanted to surround it with an alligator-filled moat. In end, his administration has overseen construction of roughly 450 miles of border wall construction likely reaching 475 miles by Inauguration Day. vast majority of that wall replaces smaller barriers that had already existed, though new wall is considerably more difficult to bypass.

Over last four years, Trump and his administration have taken extreme and often unlawful action to try to curb both illegal and legal immigration. ir efforts were aided in his final year by coronavirus pandemic, which ground international travel to a halt. But number of people stopped trying to cross sourn border illegally has been creeping back up in recent months. Figures from December show nearly 74,000 encounters at southwest border, up 3% from vember and up 81% from a year earlier.

Mark Morgan, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, has warned next administration that easing Trump administration policies, including a halt to wall construction, would lead to a surge of people seeking to cross border, creating "an unmitigated crisis in first few weeks.”

President-elect Joe Biden has said he’d halt construction of border wall and take executive action where possible to reverse some of Trump’s restrictions on legal immigration and asylum seekers. But Biden and his aides have ackwledged possibility of a new crisis at border if y act too quickly, and Biden has said it could take six months for his administration to secure funding and put in place necessary infrastructure to loosen Trump-era restrictions.

Missing from trip will be Chad Wolf, Trump’s acting Department of Homeland Security secretary. He abruptly resigned Monday, days after he pledged to serve out Trump's full term. After Capitol violence, groups including Sourn Poverty Law Center urged Trump to call off his visit. “ violence Trump incited last week, and violence his anti-immigrant policies cause stem from alarming mainstreaming of white nationalist ideology that our country must reckon with and fight to uproot," said Efrén Olivares, deputy legal director of center’s Immigrant Justice Project. “ president’s planned trip to border will only furr harm and beget more violence." 

(Im Credits: AP)