President Biden on Thursday said that record-breaking illegal immigration is fueled by a wave of bogus asylum claims that have badly backlogged the asylum processing system — without committing to using his executive powers to limit the release from custody of asylum seekers, as Republicans urge him to do.

Biden called on Republicans in Congress to "show a little spine" and approve a bipartisan Senate immigration bill and offer "more resources" to address the crisis — after conservatives balked at the bill this month by saying it did too little while granting Biden redundant emergency powers to take action.

"Today, the process to get a decision on asylum claim takes five to seven years," Biden said.

"It's far too long. You come in, you say 'I have a credible fear'... and what happens? You say, 'Well, okay, you can come in the country but come back in five to seven years, maybe as many as eight years and you get a hearing from before a judge to determine whether you can stay.'"

Illegal immigrants released pending review of their asylum claims are entitled to US work permits after 180 days. As of early January, more than 85% of illegal immigrants were being released at the border, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

"This encourages more people to come to the country if they got another five, seven, eight years before they have to do anything," Biden said.

"With new policies in this bill and an additional 4,300 additional asylum officers, we will be able to reduce that process to less than six months. That would have a serious deterrent effect on those coming," he said.

"When a criminal gangs say, 'We'll get to the north but it's $8,000,' They are going to say, 'Let me get this straight. I'm gonna go north, it's gonna cost me six, eight, probably closer to eight, I guess, thousand dollars, and I'm gonna get there and in six months they may be able to get rid of me.'"

Biden said "If a person who's thinking about entering the United States understands the case is to be cited in a few weeks or months instead of five to seven years, they're less likely to come in the first place. They are not going to pay the cartels thousands of dollars to make that journey knowing that we turned around quickly."

Biden ended former President Donald Trump's "Remain in Mexico" policy that required most asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while the US legal system assessed their claims of persecution. Republicans say that decision helped spark historic levels of illegal immigration under Biden.

Donald Trump praised Gov. Greg Abbott for battling the federal government by invoking state resources and declaring an invasion at the state's border, arguing people are "pouring in" under President Biden.

He also contrasted his border policies under his presidency with those of Biden.

"Three years ago, we had the most secure border in history," Trump said, pointing to his policies, including Title 42 and Remain in Mexico.

"This is a Biden invasion over the past three years. I call him crooked Joe, because he's crooked. He's a terrible president and the worst president our country has ever had," Trump went on.

"We ended catch and release. We built 571 miles of border wall -- much more than I promised I'd build," the former president said.

He argued Texas, under Abbott's leadership, has done an "amazing job in a pretty short amount of time" with securing the border in the past few months in Eagle Pass, deploying razor wire, National Guardsmen and buoys into the river.

Abbott spoke after Trump delivered his remarks, arguing Biden is visiting a "sanitized" version of the border in Brownsville, Texas -- in "extraordinary contrast" with Trump's visit.

The governor said the number of illegal migrants in Eagle Pass has gone down to six to seven daily compared to the thousands streaming in before.

President Joe Biden speaks about the state of the U.S. Mexico border after his visit to Brownsville, Texas on Thursday.

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Donald Trump delivered remarks in Eagle Pass, Texas, Thursday afternoon, blasting President Biden for the "migrant crime" allowed to exist under his administration, and vowing to get the southern border under control.

The GOP front-runner called the record-breaking illegal migrant encounters "a Joe Biden invasion," while bringing attention to the death of nursing student Laken Riley, who was murdered by an illegal immigrant.

Trump said he spoke to Riley's parents, and that she was the "best nursing student there was," -- but that Biden would never dare to mention her name.

He also spoke to the situation at the border under Biden. Trump focused on the number of migrants crossing the border, not just from South America, but also from The Congo, China, Iran and Yemen, among other countries.

"They're pouring into our country, and they're bringing with them tremendous problems, including medical problems," the former president said.

Watch live video of Trump speaking at the border:

President Biden shook hands with uniformed federal agents as he walked along the Rio Grande in South Texas to see for himself the US border with Mexico.

Biden's conversations with agents were out of earshot of the traveling press pool — as a drone hovered overhead as a security precaution.

After the stop along the river, Biden's motorcade took a half-hour drive to the Brownsville Border Patrol Station for an operational briefing on the security situation in the area.

His motorcade passed a "couple dozen" protesters, according to a press pool report, including one with a handwritten poster that read "No Mas Joe."

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) dismissed President Biden's border visit as "completely hollow" Thursday and blasted "dishonest" Alejandro Mayorkas after the homeland security secretary, who is traveling with Biden, said on Air Force One that it's up to Congress to fix the border crisis.

"For the dishonest secretary to travel with him, to say that he's not going to do anything of substance, it's not surprising to me. He hasn't done anything of substance since he opened up our border," Emmer told The Post shortly after Mayorkas confirmed to reporters that Biden would not sign any new orders during the trip because "Congress needs to act. We have a bipartisan piece of legislation."

But Emmer, who helped impeach Mayorkas on Feb. 13 for allegedly failing to enforce immigration laws and allegedly lying about the border being secure, called that bill insufficient.

"I mean, did [the Senate] ever send it over? They couldn't get cloture on it," Emmer said.

"The House has already sent over the solution for the border. It had five pieces: It had finished the wall, reform parole, reform asylum, end catch and release and restore Remain in Mexico... Border Patrol has told us if you do just the last one, Remain in Mexico, you will stanch 70% of the flow overnight."

The bipartisan Senate bill "didn't do anything to finish the wall, didn't do anything to reform parole, didn't do anything to reform asylum, did not restore Remain in Mexico and I would argue that it codified the illegal actions of Secretary Mayorkas on the border," Emmer charged.

"[Mayorkas] is supposed to detain and adjudicate and he's not doing that... he releases them into the country," Emmer went on. "That's why when you say we're gonna give you the opportunity to do this up to 5,000 a day before there's shutdown authority, that's doing nothing more than putting into law the illegal activity that's already taking place on the southern border that was the basis for the impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas."

Emmer called Biden's trip alongside Mayorkas "an amazing display of arrogance and foolishness."

"You have a president who literally through 64 executive orders over the last three-plus years has undone all the great work that was done by the previous administration to seal our border. And now he basically ignored it up until the beginning of this year. And the only reason he's talking about now is because it has risen to the level of a political liability," Emmer said.

"It's pretty much a joke. You've got President Trump, who started setting up a visit, I think, three weeks ago and you have this last-minute rushed [Biden] visit," Emmer jabbed.

"Brownsville is the 29th most hot crossing for illegals.... There are other places where he should be going. And look, it's too little, too late. The American people are smarter than he and the people around him give them credit for and they see what he's doing."

Former president Donald Trump arrived at razor wire fence in Eagle Pass, Texas, just after 2 p.m. Thursday to tour the US' border with Mexico.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott welcomed former President Donald Trump to the border and began briefing him on the border crisis.

Trump shook his head at times as Abbott and other officials recalled the surge of illegal immigrants that have stormed into Eagle Pass over recent months.

"Unbelievable," Trump sighed at one point.

Abbott also drew attention to his battle with the Biden administration over concertina wire, which Texas has laid down.

At the moment, the courts have temporarily allowed the Biden administration to cut the wire, but Abbott is continuing to battle against that in court. On Thursday, a federal court dealt him another blow, blocking his state from enforcing a law to stop individuals from crossing into Texas from Mexico illegally.

Abbott placed the blame for the border woes squarely on President Biden.

President Biden was greeted at the Mexican border with "cars flying Trump flags" as his motorcade arrived around 2 p.m. local time, according to a pool report.

Biden's procession of official vehicles near Brownsville also included at least one pro-Biden sign and a Gadsden flag, the initial White House pool report said.

"The motorcade drove along a road with a border fence about 20 feet high running parallel to it, just inside the actual US-Mexico border, which is formed by the river," according to the dispatch.

"The motorcade drove through a gate in the fence and along a bumpy dirt road. On the other side of the fence, cars flying Trump flags were parked."

President Biden has touched down in Texas for his visit to the border city of Brownsville.

Ahead of his visit to Eagle Pass, former President Donald Trump publicly nudged the top House Republican on border matters against retiring.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Texas) announced his plans to retire early this month but is rumored to be thinking about reversing course.

"Mark Green has had lots of options because of his political talents, and the great job he has done as a Congressman, but given the fantastic work he’s doing as Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, I hope he runs for Re-Election to the U.S. House of Representatives," Trump posted on Truth Social.

"If he does, he has my Complete and Total Endorsement!"

Green played a key role in drafting House Republicans' marquee border legislation, HR 2, also known as the Secure the Border Act of 2023.

Under Green's leadership, the Homeland Security panel also pushed to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The House ultimately green-lit that impeachment earlier this month.