Why to the Grocery Bills keep going up . We are going to get smarter as the 11th hour gets underway on this thursday night. Good evening once again, im stephanie ruhle. We are now 250 days away from the election. Two candidates for president went to the border today, one wants to sign a bill to dramatically improve it. The other block the bill so he could run on it. My colleague Gabe Gutierrez has a closer look at todays visits. Reporter facing criticism over his handling of the immigration crisis, President Biden making his second trip to the southern border while in office. Its time to act. Reporter arriving in brownsville, texas, blasting House Republicans retaining a bipartisan Border Security bill at the urging of former president trump. Its the toughest set of Border Security reforms weve ever seen in this country. Its time for the speakers and some of my republican friends in congress who are blocking this bill to show a little spine. Reporter the president with this message directly for mr. Trump. Join me, or i will join you in telling the congress to pass this bipartisan Border Security bill. We can do it together. Reporter earlier, the republican front runner landed about 300 miles away in eagle pass, texas. This is a biden invasion over the past three years. Reporter arguing President Biden could in the crisis on his own, slamming what he calls mr. Bidens Lax Border Policies for causing it. So we had remain in mexico, remember that . You cannot come into our country and we had no more Catch And Release. Our Catch And Release was we released them in mexico. Now republicans keep talking about migrant crime in big cities, and how it is up, up, up. But for facts sake, crime and migrant crime is not up, it is down. I am going to say it one more time, because you might not realize it, crime is down. The cities that receive the most migrants saw their Crime Numbers drop. Speaker mike johnson called President Bidens visit today just a photo op. But remember, it was mike johnson, he was one of the main reasons that the bipartisan border bill did not even get a vote on capitol hill. And it is donald trump himself who did a Primetime Interview on fox to push the lies, a Primetime Interview otherwise known as a photo op. Meanwhile, a win on Border Policy for the Biden Administration today, a federal judge blocked a controversial law in texas that gave state and local police the power to arrest migrants. We begin tonight with an nbc News White House correspondent mike memoli. All right, michael, lets start with this, because President Biden is now putting immigration front and center. What do they want to achieve out of todays visit . While, stephanie, the scene that we saw today has been the former president in the current president going toe to toe, a split screen moment on the campaign trail. We knew this was going to happen at, some point especially as they both emerge fairly quickly as the respective nominees. But i think if you ask any political reporter, even if you ask both campaigns if the issue on which this split screen moment would happen is immigration, they wouldve doubted that. They never wouldve believed you. And it speaks to just how much, especially the biden team believes the Politics Around this Immigration Issue has changed dramatically over the last few months because of the collapse of that bipartisan border bill. And so what we saw today was the former president running on the issue that really helped catapult him to the white house in the first place. Of course, the 2016 campaign, talking about building the wall, you saw him in his comfort zone with a lot of Border Control agents who are very sympathetic to him, to be blunt about it. And then you saw President Biden doing what i think the white house eases their advantage at this point, laying out in very technical terms what are the challenges at the border, laying out what the border bill, the bipartisan bill, would have accomplished if those resources were brought to bear in the border. And you saw him at some point speaking of script as well, talking with passion about the fact that a lot of these issues could be solved if not for the fact the former president helped torpedo this bill. And so, the white house really does want to set up what is going to be a larger theme of the state of the Union Address next, week which is that all the things that President Biden has done to meet some of this nations challenges, the ways in which further progress has been stifled because of republican obstruction. And to really lay it out for the American People, this choice of who is fighting for the American People and trying to deal with these challenges. So help us understand, he is not getting anything done in congress. As far as Executive Action, what does he want to do . So what the white house is really frankly wrestling with at this point is whether to look at some of the proposed legislation that would have been part of this bill and see if there are ways they can use executive authorities to actually enact them. Now this is something of a divide within the Democratic Party at this moment. You have a number of democratic governors, especially who just were in washington, pressing the administration, not worry about the fact that a lot of these executive orders, you know this, stephanie, would be immediately challenged in court. Republican Attorney Generals would rush to try to challenge anything the president does by executive order. They are saying you need to show action. You need to not there are ways in which republicans have tried, whether its to congress, or whether its through the courts, to block agenda. Try to show the American People that you are taking action. Specifically, some of these Executive Actions would have to do with making a strict or executive asylum policies and make it easier for the administration to deport those who are in this country illegally. But there is this give and take about whether this is the right court. I think what the president wants to do is have this state of the Union Address, and then perhaps quickly after that announced that hes taking action on his own. Mr. Memoli, thank you so much. Now let us get smarter with the help of our leadoff panel. Peter baker is here, chief White House Correspondent in the new york times. Victoria defrancesco soto, dean of the Clinton School of Public Service at the university of arkansas. And matthew dowd, former george w. Bush strategist and founder of country over party. Peter, lets start with you. Quite a difference between these two candidates today. I want you to watch this. Folks, it is real simple. It is time to act. It is long past time to act. The United States is being overrun by the biden migrant crime. We desperately need more resources, more agents, officers, judges. This is a joe biden invasion. Join me, or i will join you in telling the congress to pass this bipartisan Border Security bill. You look at what this governor, new scum, from california, is that his name, new scum . Instead playing politics with the issue, why dont we get together and get it done . I call him crooked joe, because he is crooked and hes a terrible person. New scum, you know you are getting to donald trump when he gives your own nickname. Matthew, what caught your attention in the split screen . Very different visits. Its dramatically different because one is just completely saying outrageous things and wants nothing to be done on it so you can be used as an issue. And the president is actually trying to solve the problem that exists, that most americans know exists, and want it solved. So im actually think its really smart of joe biden to weigh it to the immigration debate. I think for too longs, democrats have play defense on the immigration of the border and got behind the eight ball on it. I think its very smart for him to just walk right into this and say this is what we want to do and then the do Nothing Congress and donald trump want nothing to be done on. So i think its a great contrast to benefit joe biden. Do you think its going to break through, matthew . Because polling shows that donald trump, immigration is kind of the perfect issue for him. It is a guttural issue for voters. He knows how to stop things. And republicans, while they dont have a plan, have been the ones leading, at least talking about it. And you just said it, until now, democrats have been somewhat quiet. Well, i see these issues, multiple issues that are going to decide the president ial race, one of which is immigration, one of which is the economy, and one of which is democracy as a whole. Those three issues i think are going to be decisive in this election. Republicans have a big advantage on immigration. But i think what you want to do in a political sense, i think substantively, joe biden menstruation, President Biden wants to solve the problem, but from a politics standpoint, he wants to neutralize the advantage that donald trump and the republicans have on this issue. I think they will still come november have an advantage on this issue. But if you can neutralize it to a degree and then simultaneously hope you solve the problem, which is ultimately what we want to do here. But i think it is smart, because joe biden understands they have an advantage, lets try to neutralize it but we try to get the problem solved. Victoria, rightwing media is talking nonstop about migrant crime. But i pointed it out just a minute ago, nbc Analysis Shows that overall crime levels have actually dropped in the cities that have gotten the most migrants, places like new york, chicago, and l. A. How do democrats get the actual facts out there . Because besides rightwing media, when you talk to people in those cities, they do not feel it. And stephanie, this is not the first time. This is a replay of 2016. Think back to that election where donald trump leaned heavily on the angel families. He leaned heavily again on migrant crime. This was something that was key to his campaign. And its because anxiety. And we know from Psychological Research that anxiety is one of the strongest emotions we have. And its emotion that presses us to act politically, to act in different ways. And we have seen this. We saw this in 2016. We are getting a taste of it right now. But again, there is nothing new under the sun. These are the same tactics that we saw used during the Chinese Exclusion Act era. These are the same tactics that we saw appeared during the National Voters origin act bill. Immigration is always stoked this fear. And donald trump has really how to do it in this moment. Peter, your analysis piece todays headline biden takes an opportunity to shift from defense to offense at the border. Did donald trump give joe biden the gift of this election by blocking that border deal . Yeah, in a way, he did. Because up until now, as matt said, the democrats havent really wanted to talk about immigration for obvious reasons. Its not a good issue for them. They are not going to win on this issue among the voters who care most about it. So we havent seen biden go to the border and talk about. It we havent seen him go thats only the second time hes gone to the border. But he has gone because their publicans gave him something to say. And they gave him somebody to blame, which is to save themselves and donald trump. Up until now, the republicans had a pretty clear shot at pointing the finger at President Biden, saying he has not done anything, hes responsible for this, is bidens invasion. But because they block the bill, and it was a bipartisan bill negotiated by a very conservative republican senator from oklahoma, he can say no, guys, this is not my issue. The issue is the congress and the republicans in the house and the former president of the United States who dont want to solve the problem, they wanted walked into that by even putting on social media that they did not want this to pass Creek A Xaiden want to give joe biden a win. That is not somebody who cares about the issue when you say that way. That somebody who cares about having a Campaign Argument to make. And this is the argument he handed joe biden to make. He would not have gone to the border if not joe biden giving him this opportunity. Walked right into it. Victoria, where is the hispanic vote it into all of this . Theyre the second Fastest Growing ethnic group of American Voters and we know they have moved to the right in recent elections, especially in florida. The other thing is the size, stephanie. Over the course of the last 20 years, the hispanic electorate has nearly doubled so thats an important point to take into consideration. And look, it boils down to diversity within the latino population. We tend to think of latinos as democrats, and yes they tend to lean democratic, sometimes more during certain elections, sometimes less. But we have been seeing a with the Republican Party for certain latino demographics. And this is something of concern for the democrats. They need to not assume. Theres been a lot of assumption that latinos are a lock for the Democratic Party. So i think its very much not making this assumption. And not only the partisan assumption, stephanie, the fact that latinos could just stay home, and that would be equally dangerous for the Democratic Party. So its not just worrying about, oh, are they want to go over to trump, but what are we going to do to get them off their couches, into the house, and into the fold . Matthew, lets talk about this, because polls show that will voters actually trust trump more to secure the border, they trust biden more to deal with migrants humanely. Neither of those things are a surprise. The surprise is that when trump was in office, it seemed preposterous that he wanted to build a wall. Most voters thought that was ridiculous. Yet more and more american seem to be saying, oh, i dont know, maybe i am open to a wall idea. Well, thats the fundamental sort of disconnect that i think we see often in conversations about this issue with the American Public. Because the American Public has a two way they want this approach in two ways. They want the border secured, thats what they want, a strong hand, a strong and at the border, secure the border. And simultaneously, theyre empathetic and compassionate, and have strong big hearts towards the plight of the people that are coming over here. Everyone on this panel, including myself, im sure is a son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, great grandson, of an immigrant. The United States of americas economy, agriculture, infrastructure, thats all been built by immigrants. And i sit in texas as you know. If we got rid of immigration as it exists today, we have no Construction Industry in texas, we have no hotel and Restaurant Industry in texas. And we have no crew street to talk about the Price Groceries going up, the price going up. So, i think the American People blake in many ways understands it. But i think as was stated, when fears rise of things and many of them are just pictures of things they see and all of that, they rise and theres some charismatic leader, lets call them, points the finger. And as was, said this has been done in numerous other times in our history. It was done in the 1920. It was done in the 1880s. It was done in the 1840s and 50s. Its been done throughout our histories, when anxieties and fears rise, someone comes along, whether its the kkk or the know Nothing Party or whoever, donald trump points the finger and says here is the problem, thats the issue. And people lose their minds and forget hold the facts that are presented here. And thats what you have to do, the conversation has to be about both approaches, secure the border, compassion towards the people who are in this fight, and who are only coming here for the families and for jobs. Victoria, that is kind of the thing that matthew is hitting on, theres this false economic premise out there that americans are believing migrants are taking my jobs, theyre filling my school, theyre getting things that im not getting. But that is not the case. We have a huge Labor Shortage in this country. Immigrant labor is something we need. If we had mass deportations, it would hurt our economy dramatically. How does the Biden Administrat