Image source, Reuters

Donald Trump has arrived at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass - the park at the centre of the showdown between Texas officials and the federal government.

Alongside Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Trump is currently meeting with more officials from the National Guard and the Texas Department of Public Safety. He's standing just feet from the Rio Grande River where migrants swim across to the US - Mexico is clearly visible in the background.

At one point, he waved at a small group of people standing on the Mexican side of the river.

Stay with us for more updates or you can watch along by clicking play at the top of this page.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
US reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Much of the last year has been characterised by an increasingly contentious showdown between Texas - led by Governor Greg Abbott - and the federal government over their handling of the border.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Eagle Pass, where both Trump and Abbott are right now. Abbott has installed razor wire at the border and maintained it despite the intervention of the US Supreme Court, which ruled that federal Border Patrol agents can remove it.

The wire is still up, and officials, for now, have no plans to remove the wire.

The wire is the latest legal battlefront for Abbott, who has repeatedly argued that the federal government has failed to live up to its responsibilities by protecting Texas from "an invasion" at the border.

Additionally, Texas and the federal government are also mired in legal wrangling over a controversial set of floating buoys on the Rio Grande River in the same area.

The buoys - which were installed in July to stop migrants from crossing the river in the same area - have been the subject of a lawsuit from the Department of Justice, citing humanitarian and environmental concerns.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
US Reporter

Just a few minutes ago, we saw Donald Trump alongside Texas Governor Greg Abbott meeting officials from the National Guard and Department of Public Safety in Eagle Pass.

During the brief meeting, we heard them discussing the construction of additional razor wire at the border.

At one point, Abbott can be heard telling Trump that "Joe Biden entices them [the migrants], if not forces them to come".

"Terrible, terrible," Trump responded.

Later, a National Guard official could be heard telling Trump that 302,000 migrants crossed the border in December.

"Unbelievable," Trump said in response. Stay tuned for more updates from both Trump and Biden's visits to the border.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
US Reporter

Image source, Getty Images

We've just seen Biden and his immigration chief, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in Brownsville, talking to local leaders.

Mayorkas spoke to reporters earlier on board Air Force One on the way to Texas, and downplayed criticism that Biden is visiting Brownsville - a relatively quiet sector of the border. Crossings are down across the entire length of the border after a peak in December, he said.

And Mayorkas laid the blame for rising migrant numbers at the feet of Congress, where a bipartisan border bill spectacularly collapsed amid mounting opposition from House Republicans.

"The legislation is what we need. It is the enduring solution," he said. "Actions taken outside the legislation are often met with litigation challenges in court."

Image source, EPA

Earlier, Mark Green, the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, criticised Biden's decision to visit the Texas town of Brownsville, which he describes as "one of the slowest sectors on the Southwest border".

The visit, Green says, "makes it abundantly clear that he cares far more about optics than actually addressing this historic, self-inflicted crisis" - and calls it a "desperate photo-op that fools no one".

Other sectors of the border, such as Tucson, Arizona, see upwards of 2,000 daily migrant "encounters" a day, significantly more than Brownsville.

Yesterday, the White House was also asked about why Biden picked Brownsville, but avoided giving a direct answer. "He wanted to show that it was important for him to go down there to hear from Border Patrol agents, to hear from first responders on what’s going on on the ground," the press secretary said.

Image source, US Pool

President Biden is in Brownsville now, speaking to border officials. He's joined by his Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Earlier this month, Mayorkas became the first cabinet member to face impeachment in nearly 150 years after a Republican-led effort that accused Mayorkas of not doing his job properly for the unprecedented influx of migrants at the US-Mexico border.

Biden defended his secretary, calling the vote a "political stunt".

Tom Bateman
Reporting from Eagle Pass

On the street corner I speak to 81-year-old Enriqueta Diaz. She tells me her father was a Cherokee Indian born in Thurber, Texas, who worked in the coal mines here at Eagle Pass where he met her mother - a migrant from Mexico who crossed the bridge, she says, when anyone could.

“She had to go through the process with my dad being a citizen… procedures have always been there,” she says.

“You have to follow the law”.

She backs Trump’s proposals to further militarise the border to "deter" migrants. (Although some evidence suggests recent actions by Mexico to prevent movement towards this area have had as much or more to do with crossings dropping into the town recently; the changes happened after a visit to Mexico in December by top US officials.)

“The first thing [Trump] is planning on doing is closing the border and enforcing the laws that are already there, and that is to deport illegals,” says Diaz.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
US reporter

I’ve been following the US-Mexico border for years and through multiple administrations, and while some aspects of it haver remained constant, there has been a noticeable shift during the Biden administration.

More than 6.3 million migrants have been detained crossing into the US illegally under Biden, a higher number than under Trump, Obama or George W Bush.

The reasons for the spike are complex, with some factors pre-dating this government and beyond the control of the US. We asked experts what's going on.

1. There was pent-up demand after lockdown, because restrictions during the pandemic led to a drastic reduction in people crossing
2. People are displaced more than ever before."We are experiencing displacement around the world at a level never seen in recorded history," explains Jorge Loweree, from the American Immigration Council.
3. The president changed. A key message from Trump, even if it never became a reality, was that the US was cracking down at its border. This sent a message to migrants wanting to cross, say experts, but under Biden there was a change of tone and of policy.

More from me here

Tom Bateman
Reporting from Eagle Pass

Around 200 banner-holding Trump supporters have gathered on an intersection to welcome the former president to the town.

Eagle Pass’ immigration story itself is a fascinating one. The vast majority of the population here are Americans of Mexican heritage; nearly everyone you speak to is the son or daughter or grandchild of someone who crossed years ago.

It’s a Democrat-run town but the Republicans are making significant inroads based on voters’ perceptions of how soaring numbers are being handled by Biden.

The Republican Governor of Texas Greg Abbott has made Eagle Pass the centrepiece of his own immigration policy, even though the border is the responsibility of the federal government, filling the town’s riverside park with state-controlled troops.

He’s also barred some federal Border Patrol troops from entering the park - a serious challenge to Biden’s authority sparking a fierce row with Washington.

Image source, Reuters

Footage from US media shows Joe Biden has arrived in Brownsville, Texas for his much-anticipated visit at the US-Mexico border.

We're expecting to hear from the president later this afternoon.

Mike Wendling
Reporting from Chicago

As we reported earlier, Texas has been sending buses of migrants to cities in the north.

Today at Chicago's "landing zone" it’s very chilly and very quiet. The numbers arriving here from bus via Texas are down from a peak last year, reflecting a broader decline in numbers crossing the US-Mexico border. This ebb is seasonal and expected – the question is whether they will increase again later this year, and by how much.

One of the newest of more than 36,000 migrant arrivals is 32-year-old Dilcia Guillen-Oliva. She tells me she arrived from Honduras just five days ago.

She has no place in a shelter yet. Instead she’s been sleeping in a church and on “warming buses” – public buses that park near the landing zone during cold snaps like the one we’re currently experiencing.

The city’s biggest migrant shelter is just a mile away, but she’ll have to wait for a place. In the meantime, city officials working in a nearby office direct her to another church.

When the migrants started to arrive here in 2022, they were housed in police stations and even O’Hare airport. Gradually authorities have found better solutions, mostly in old and converted buildings. But for new arrivals there’s still a struggle to find shelter.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
US reporter

Image source, Getty Images

While details of how exactly he would implement his second-term immigration plans are scant, Donald Trump has already laid out the broad strokes of radical changes he wants to make if he returns to the Oval Office.

As part of his vision, Trump has vowed to carry out the “largest deportation operation” in US history to remove undocumented migrants already in the country. To do so, he has said he will use the National Guard, challenging legal limits on the use of US military forces to enforce domestic laws.

Additionally, Trump has repeatedly promised on day one” to sign an executive order ending “birthright citizenship”, a principle that says anyone born on US soil is automatically a US citizen, irrespective of their parents’ immigration status. Such a move would almost certainly face intense legal challenges here in the US.

Trump has also vowed to deny entry to "Marxists" and "communists" - although it is unclear how that would be determined - as well as re-start the now-defunct “Remain in Mexico” policy that allows the US to force would-be asylum seekers to remain outside US borders and reinstate policies that allow for rapid deportations.

Experts have warned, however, that his potential border policies would be difficult to implement and would be subject to legal challenges.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
US Reporter

We've just heard from Texas Governor Greg Abbott about the federal court's decision earlier to block SB4, the state's controversial law that would make border crossings illegal and punishable with jail time.

In a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, Abbott said that Texas will "immediately" appeal the decision and "will not back down in our fight to protect our state - and our nation - from President Biden's border crisis".

"Texas has the right to defend itself because of President Biden's ongoing failure to fulfil his duty to protect our state from the invasion at our southern border," he added.

Abbott said he expected that he believes the case will ultimately be decided by the US Supreme Court, echoing the assessment of many legal experts. Read more about SB4 here.

Donald Trump has arrived in Del Rio, Texas, and will now make the journey south-east to Eagle Pass.

"We've got a very dangerous border," he says after touching down. "We're going to take care of it, thank you."

You can watch live footage from his and Biden's arrival by clicking play above.

A serious electoral problem for Biden - and Trump's signature issuepublished at 19:09 Greenwich Mean Time 29 February

19:09 GMT 29 February

Sarah Smith
North America editor

Immigration is one of the most polarising issues in American politics and one which will be central to this year's presidential election

That’s why President Joe Biden and his likely Republican opponent Donald Trump - who's just landed in Texas - are both making competing visits to the southern border in Texas today.

As Biden has presided over a record surge in illegal border crossings, immigration could be a serious electoral problem for him.

Congress came close last month to agreeing a bipartisan bill for a major immigration reform and billions of dollars for additional border security. But it was blocked by Republicans at the behest of Trump.

Now, the White House argues that it is their Republican opponents who are standing in the way of solutions – all because Trump doesn’t want the issue fixed before November's election

Immigration is Trump's signature issue. He never finished building his infamous border wall but his rants against illegal immigrants chime with many voters' views. He is promising some fairly extreme measures – like the largest deportation of illegal immigrants in history – if he is re-elected

Image source, Reuters

Activists in Eagle Pass have stated their opposition to today's visit to the Texan city by Donald Trump and the state's Republican governor, Greg Abbott.

“This unwanted attention, this unwanted militarisation of our community is unwelcomed," says Jessie Fuentes from Eagle Pass Border Coalition, quoted by the New York Times. "You are not welcomed here, gentlemen."

Fuentes hits out at politicians choosing their area, Shelby Park - which goes along a 2.5 mile (4km) stretch of the Rio Grande River in Eagle Pass - to make their stand, while the US-Mexican border is 1,254 miles (2,018km) long.

Image source, Getty Images

President Joe Biden has been at the wheel during a time when migrant numbers crossing the US-Mexico border has spiked dramatically.

And it’s a significant issue for many Americans.

More than two thirds of people said they disapproved of Biden’s handling of the border situation, according to a poll in January by the BBC’s US partner CBS News., external

A separate poll by Reuters/Ipsos, external the same month put Biden’s approval rating at 38%. And 17% of that group said immigration was one of their main concerns.

Another recent Gallup poll, external found 54% disapproved of Biden.

Today, Biden will try to change these perceptions.

Laredo is a 'pressure-relief valve' for rest of borderpublished at 18:19 Greenwich Mean Time 29 February

18:19 GMT 29 February

Angelica Casas
US reporter, Laredo

I’m at the Holding Institute, a community centre that provides overnight shelter for migrants and asylum seekers who are bussed in by Border Patrol.

Many of the migrants ending up here didn’t cross through a port of entry here, though.

Laredo serves as a “pressure-relief valve” for the rest of the border, says Michael Smith, who runs the centre. “Border Patrol brings in migrants from other cities and states because they’re overwhelmed.”

Smith says because Laredo's seen a dip in crossings, other border communities are benefiting because Laredo can allocate resources to them.

“Every city is impacted differently, but you’re not going to see the chaos of the crisis here,” Smith says.

Shortly after speaking to Smith, a bus arrived from the nearby processing centre in Laredo to drop off migrants who had crossed into the US at Eagle Pass.

A tale of two borders in Laredopublished at 18:10 Greenwich Mean Time 29 February

18:10 GMT 29 February

Angelica Casas
US reporter, Laredo

The streets of downtown Laredo are quieter these days, with many locals reporting they’ve seen less migrants around than last year.

Border crossings in Laredo, and throughout southern Texas, have dropped in the last few months, as migrants and asylum seekers overwhelm ports of entry in Arizona and California.

An employee outside a Mexican goods market said they no longer congregate outside the store.

Sabrina Lopez, a lifelong resident, works in the downtown area near a plaza where migrants would gather before. Today, that plaza is empty with city workers cleaning.

“These are people here because they’re needing a safe place to live,” she says. “This needs to be addressed in a humane way, recognising these are humans who are coming here needing help.”

So where are the migrants?

While the number of Border Patrol encounters have decreased, migrants are still here, but concentrated in shelters like the Holding Institute, where I’m headed next.

The BBC's Tom Bateman is in Eagle Pass, Texas, waiting for Trump's visit later.

He's been out on night patrol at the Rio Grande - the river where many migrants swim across to reach the US.

He also spoke to a woman from Honduras, who is seven-months pregnant and crossed the river yesterday in the early hours of the morning. "We were afraid of being swept by currents," she says.