A number of senior Biden administration officials and members of Congress are taking a trip on Wednesday to a refugee resettlement facility along the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The high-level trip comes as pressure mounts on President Biden to visit himself amid a surge of unaccompanied children and migrant families crossing into the United States.
- It was not made immediately clear which officials would be on the trip to the Refugee Resettlement Carrizo Springs Influx Care Facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas.
- The White House agreed to allow a press camera for the first time. While the public has been given a glimpse of the conditions at some border facilities, they have come from pictures shared by members of Congress or through official administration channels.
- Media outlets have not been able to visit the sites and gather footage independently.
The visit is the latest in a series of trips taken by government officials ranging from members of Congress to the president's top border officials.
- They come as Republicans try to blame the administration for the problem and the White House seeks to defuse the issue.
- The GOP says the new president is to blame for refusing to reinstate a Trump-era policy to expel unaccompanied minors, as well as more accommodating language the Biden team concedes is connected to its humanitarian values.
Flashback: The president himself told reporters last week he intends to take a trip to the border "soon."
- Asked whether he is interested in seeing the conditions in which children are living, he said, “I know what’s going on in those facilities."
Go deeper: Exclusive photos shared recently with Axios revealed the crowded conditions inside one U.S. Customs and Border Protection temporary overflow facility in Donna, Texas.
- Axios previously reported the president has been involved in conversations about border facilities, highlighting the importance of the impending crisis.