Former president Donald Trump will visit the US-Mexico border later this month with Texas Governor Greg Abbott, following complaints from both men about a rise in the number of migrants crossing into the United States.
Mr Trump, Mr Abbott and other Republicans have criticised President Joe Biden for rolling back Trump-era immigration restrictions, as the number of migrants arriving at the border has reached the highest monthly level seen in two decades.
Mr Trump did not say where along the 2,000-kilometre border he would be visiting. Mr Abbott's office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The invitation comes as Mr Abbott prepares for to run for re-election at the midterms in 2022.
Mr Trump made the building of a wall along the border a signature part of his presidency, saying it was needed to stop illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
Mr Biden issued an executive order on his first day in office that paused wall construction, saying "a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution."
That was the first in a series of moves to undo many of the Trump administration's immigration curbs and put in place what the Biden administration has called more humane policies.
Mr Abbott said last week that his state would build its own border wall, but whether he has the resources and legal authority to do that remains unclear.
Is Trump heading back out on the road?
The confirmation of Mr Trump's trip comes amid reports that the former president is locking down final dates for a long-rumoured summer speaking tour.
USA Today reported that Mr Trump would hold rallies with supporters in Florida and Ohio in the next few weeks, with two rallies reportedly bookending his border trip.
USA Today said details for the events had not been finalised, but the former president has been teasing a return to his signature rallies for several months.
"We'll be doing one in Florida, we're going to do one in Ohio, we're going to do one in North Carolina," Trump told far-right network One America News in May.
Events signal Trump's return to the spotlight
The rallies would be the first regular public appearances from the former president since the January 6 attack on the US Capitol that dominated the final days of his presidency.
Mr Trump shunned the media in the immediate aftermath and was banned from most social media channels. He didn't attend the inauguration of his successor — the first outgoing president to do so in 100 years.
Since retreating to Mar-A-Lago, Mr Trump has kept a low profile. He's taken part in a smattering of interviews with favourable networks and journalists, and launched and dumped a blog on his personal website.
He's also given several speeches, but those have been before Republican Party operatives, rather than the rank and file voters who regularly attended his rallies in the lead up to the 2020 election.
Even those limited appearances have broken with the norms of past US presidents. Most have chosen to stay out of the political fray, with some exceptions made during elections.
Mr Trump has continued to push baseless claims about fraud at the 2020 election, but has declined to reveal whether he plans to run for president again in 2024.
The ramping up of his public presence also arrives at a time when Republicans, at both a federal and state level, are pushing through a raft of election law reforms often based on conspiracy theories that gained popularity among Republican voters.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll in May found a quarter of American adults falsely believed the 2020 presidential election was tainted by illegal voting, something multiple investigations, US judges and Trump's own former attorney-general William Barr have found is not the case.
States like Georgia and Florida have introduced or passed laws that restrict voting, while in Arizona, a much-maligned recount of ballots in Maricopa County is continuing.
ABC/Reuters
