Biden’s Border Visit Will Showcase a City Strained by Migration

  • Biden touching down in El Paso before summit in Mexico City
  • El Paso has struggled to deal with recent surge in migrants

Border Patrol Station in El Paso, Texas, on Dec. 19.

Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images 

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Joe Biden’s choice of El Paso, Texas, as the site of his first presidential visit to the US-Mexico border puts a spotlight on a city that has struggled to deal with a four-fold surge in the number of migrants on its streets.

Mayor Oscar Leeser — a Democrat like Biden — has said shelters and charity groups in his city have been overwhelmed as El Paso became a popular crossing point over the past few months, putting it at the center of a national debate about border security.