Donald Trump, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Speak on Border Crisis at Eagle Pass, Texas

Former President Donald Trump and Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott delivered remarks on the border crisis at Eagle Pass, Texas, a hot spot for illegal border crossings. Also on Thursday, President Biden delivered remarks at Brownsville, a much quieter sector.

President Trump's remarks were pointed, including mention of Georgia nursing student Lakin Riley, who was murdered by an illegal alien: "Joe Biden will never say Laken Riley's name, but we will say it and we will remember. We're not going to forget her. It's just been a horrible story that we've had to live with the last few days. It's hard to believe. And her parents, they just can never be the same. Great people."

In his remarks, Gov. Abbott made a strong endorsement of Trump's policies on the border during his term in office: "President Trump showed that when he was in office, he was able to secure the border. And I know that when he is re-elected as our president, our border will once again be secured."

President Trump hammered the point home about crimes committed by illegal immigrants, referring to such crimes (as he has in the past) as "Biden migrant crime," or "migrant crime," which the 2024 Republican presidential front-runner is touting as a new category of crime; he also gave numbers of crimes committed by illegal immigrants: 3,300 assaults, 3,000 robberies, 6,900 burglaries, 7,500 weapons charges, 4,300 sexual assaults, 1,600 kidnappings, and 1,700 homicides.

Gov. Abbott (correctly) observed that President Biden, had he left the Trump-era policies in place, would have presided over a much more secure border, and accused Biden of lying when he stated he needed Congressional action to allow him to take action on the southern border.

The nation's southern border has become a major issue, if not the issue, of the 2024 presidential campaign. Pres. Biden's approval ratings on immigration are crashing, and former Pres. Trump is leveraging what he (correctly) claims as a major strength in his former administration.

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US Senate Passes Stop-Gap Spending Bill, Now Heads to Biden's Desk

The United States Senate has passed a stop-gap piece of spending legislation meant to buy legislators another week, as Congress seeks to hammer out details of a second set of appropriations bills in March.

The final vote tally was 77-13. The measure now heads to the president's desk.[...] The new funding deadlines for the government spending bills are now March 8 and March 22. Congress will now return next week to finish working on the first tranche of six funding bills that are due by March 8.

As we wrote earlier on Thursday, the House passed a similar bill by Republican Speaker Mike Johnson, with the aid of Democrats in the lower chamber, by a tally of 320-99.

Before the vote: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said:

This agreement is proof that when … bipartisanship is prioritized, when getting things done for the American people takes a high priority, good things can happen, even in divided government. 

He added that he disagreed with those saying "this should take a very long time.” The passage of this first bill comes just a day after longtime Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced he would be stepping down from his role in November.

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