Election 2024 latest news: Biden and Trump visit US-Mexico border as immigration takes centre stage in election

Both Mr Trump and President Joe Biden held duelling campaign trips to the southern border on Thursday in an attempt to seize the narrative around immigration.

The former president, speaking from Eagle Pass, Texas, wildly claimed that there were “millions of people from places unknown” coming into the US that “don’t speak languages”.

If a presidential election year wasn’t enough in Washington DC, this year will also see a lot of new faces in Congress, as many members have decided to not seek re-election, with many citing frustration with the chambers’ productivity as their reason for stepping down.

Seven Senators and 42 Representatives have announced their intentions to step down from their current post in 2024, with some running for different elected positions and others leaving politics altogether. Some of those could still run for their current seats if they do not win primary elections.

The mass Congressional exodus includes several controversial seats, which could alter the control of each chamber and numerous Committee chairs.

Here is a list of every member of Congress who has announced that they won’t seek re-election in 2024:

Closing out his border speech in Brownsville, Joe Biden noted that Donald Trump was also in the state visiting the southern border at Eagle Pass.

“Here’s what i would say to Mr Trump, ‘Instead of playing politics with the issue, join me, or I’ll join you, in telling Congress to pass this bill.’”

John Bowden reports from Washington, DC:

Republicans accused Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin of causing an international “embarrassment” on Thursday at a polarised hearing of the House Armed Services Committee called to examine the communications breakdown resulting from Mr Austin’s recent hospitalisation.

Mr Austin maintained that command and control authority had always been in the hands of an appropriate authority during his hospital stay while admitting to responsibilty for a failure to properly notify the White House, Congress, and the American public when his duties had been discharged to a deputy.

The US defence chief, 70, underwent treatment for prostate cancer after being hospitalised on 1 January. He was released after a roughly two-week stay, and later underwent a second, shorter visit to Walter Reed Medical Center in February for a “bladder issue”. His first hospital stay evolved into an awkward situation for the White House as it was revealed that President Joe Biden and national security adviser Jake Sullivan had not been notified that Mr Austin was in the hospital until several days had passed.

President Joe Biden speaking at the Brownsville Border Patrol Station, says he spoke with border agents at the US-Mexico border: “They told me what they you already know and we already know— they desperately need more resources. Say it again: they desperately need more resources.”

The president said it was time for Speaker Mike Johnson and Republicans in Congress to “show a little spine”.

President Joe Biden began his remarks at the southern border at Brownsville, Texas, by addressing the massive wildfires in the north of the state.

“The idea that there’s no such thing as climate change — I love that, man. I love some of my Neanderthal friends who still think there’s no climate change.”

Here’s what you need to know about the fires:

In December, the former president said: “They’re poisoning the blood of the country. That’s what they’ve done … They poison mental institutions and prisons all over the world. Not just in South America. Not just the three or four countries we think about. But all over the world they’re coming into our country, from Africa, from Asia.”

Today at the southern border in Eagle Pass, Texas, Mr Trump had this to say about where migrants were coming from: