'Join me or I'll join you': 5 takeaways from Biden and Trump's dueling border showdown

If voters wanted an early taste of the likely election rematch between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump, they need not look further than the showdown at the U.S.-Mexico border.

During rivaling trips to Texas 325 miles apart, Biden and Trump sparred in remarks aired within a half-hour of each other. They both took walks along parts of the border in Texas. And they took turns blaming each other in an extraordinary clash over surging migration eight months before the 2024 presidential election.

Perhaps most memorably, Biden challenged Trump to get behind border legislation the former president helped kill.

Here are five takeaways from the visits:

Biden to Republicans: 'Show a little spine'

As expected, Biden used his visit to Brownsville, Texas, to blame congressional Republicans for inaction on the border after they blocked legislation in the Senate that would have created some of the most aggressive border restrictions in a generation.

Republicans took their cues from Trump, who urged the defeat of the bill, denying Biden a major political win in an election year.

"Both houses supported this legislation until someone came along and said, 'Don't do that, it will benefit the incumbent,'" Biden said, referring to Trump. "That's a hell of a way to do business in America for such a serious problem."

The bill would establish a new “border emergency authority,” allowing the president to temporarily prohibit individuals from seeking asylum in the U.S. when daily border crossings exceed a daily average of 4,000 in any one-week period.

Among other provisions, the bill would also fund 100 new inspection machines to detect fentanyl at the border, 1,500 Border Patrol Agents and customs officers and 4.300 new asylum officers to speed up the review of asylum claims.

Biden called on congressional Republicans to "show a little spine" and reconsider the legislation. "Those senators who oppose it need to set politics aside and pass it on merit, not on whether it's going to benefit one party or benefit the other party," Biden said.

A striking split screen

The visits made for a striking split screen for a likely election rematch between Biden and Trump, who visited Eagle Pass, Texas.

While Biden talked about bipartisanship, Trump stuck to his hardline immigration pitch that helped fuel his entry into national politics. Trump has promised the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants if he returns to the White House

"This is a Joe Biden invasion," Trump said, flanked by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Brandon Judd, the president of the National Border Patrol Council union. "It's allowing thousands of people to come in from China, Iran, Yemen to Congo, Syria, and a lot of other nations − many nations are not very friendly to us."

Trump said the U.S. is being overrun by "Biden migrant crime," pointing above all to the death of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student whose body was found on a wooded trail at the University of Georgia. Republicans seized on the tragedy after a 26-year-old migrant from Venezuela was charged with her kidnapping and death.

"Biden will never say Laken Riley's name," Trump said. "But we will say it and we will remember."

Abbott blamed Biden for record-setting border crossings while hailing four Trump-era immigration policies: the end of "catch and release;" Title 42; the remain-in-Mexico policy; and border-wall spending.

"All Joe Biden had to do to secure the border was to keep in place what President Trump put in place in the first place," Abbott said. "But instead, what Joe Biden did, he signed executive orders eliminating all of the effective policies that President Trump put in place."

Biden's dare to Trump

Biden, speaking from inside a Border Patrol station, only once mentioned Trump by name in his prepared remarks. It came as he called on the former president to get behind the border bill.

"I understand my predecessor is in Eagle Pass today," Biden said. "Here's what I would say to Mr. Trump. Instead of playing politics with the issue, 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."

Biden's visit marked his most public display yet of his new get-tough strategy on immigration.

Ahead of the presidential election, Biden has embraced stronger rhetoric on the border, seeking authority to "shut down" the border when it is overwhelmed and acknowledging the border is not secure.

By killing the border bill, Republicans gave Biden an opening to go from defense to offense against Trump on the border − an issue Republicans have historically used to attack Democrats.

"You know, and I know," Biden said, still referring to Trump, "it's the toughest, most efficient, most effective border security bill this country's ever seen."

No executive action announced

Biden did not announce any executive action as he continues to mull whether to address the border unilaterally.

"The fact of the matter is that the only enduring solution is legislation," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters during the trip. "Actions taken outside of legislation are often met with litigation challenges in court."

Biden has been exploring executive action under Section 212(f) of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act to achieve similar restrictions as the legislation on asylum-seekers trying to enter the U.S. illegally. But Biden has not made a decision or even determined whether he has the legal authority to restrict asylum-seekers.

Even before any executive action is taken, progressive Democrats are pushing back, underscoring the delicate line Biden must walk as he navigates the border crisis in an election year.

The House Congressional Hispanic Caucus has said its members oppose unilateral attempts by the White House to overhaul the asylum system.

Why Brownsville?

By choosing Brownsville for his border visit, Biden did not go to the busiest stretch of the border.

That would have been Tucson, Arizona, which had 250,611 apprehensions in the area between October 2023 and January.

The Rio Grand Valley, where Brownsville is situated, had 76,436 apprehensions over the same period, making it a less active crossing site than the Eagle Pass area as well.

"He's not even going to the right place," Judd told The Daily Mail ahead of the visit. "He's going to Brownsville, Texas. The Rio Grande Valley has been very slow for the past, 11, 12 months."

Biden met with Border Patrol agents and local officials during his visit and walked with them on a gravel road looking over the border.

Mayorkas said Brownsville provided Biden an important glimpse into the border situation, crediting "enhanced efforts" by the Mexican government for the decline in migrant crossings the city is experiencing. Mayorkas said it resulted from conversations Biden and other administration officials had with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in December.

In contrast, he said Tucson has seen an increase in border apprehensions because of patrolling difficulties in Sonora, a Mexican state directly south of Arizona.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden and Trump’s border visit: 5 key takeaways