“Let’s remember who we work for for God’s sake,” Biden said. “We work for the American people,” imploring Republicans in Congress to “show a little spine.”

Trump’s rejection of the notion that this is a bipartisan issue was accompanied by other gruesome stories. Aside of the Georgia killing, an incident involving the raping of a minor was shared by the Republican candidate: “Just four days ago, an illegal alien in Louisiana was arrested for brutally raping a fourteen-year-old girl while holding a knife to her throat, and he then allegedly robbed a man who was getting out of his car in front of his home and repeatedly stabbed him in the face, in the back, in the face many, many times.”

With Trump’s rhetoric on immigration intensifying, Biden, who first came to visit the border three years into his presidency, has been forced into a position where he must appear strong. Yet as Trump promises to finish the wall and authorize the largest deportation operation in American history, it is unclear how exactly Biden could manage to win the issue without dissatisfying a large segment of his progressive base.