Dozens of congressional Republicans traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas on Wednesday to get a firsthand look at the illegal immigration crisis resulting from what they argue are the Biden administration’s failed policies.
“It’s been an eye opener,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, who led the delegation of more than 60 GOP lawmakers to Eagle Pass, Texas.
The trip came amid ongoing negotiations on Capitol Hill to strike a bipartisan deal on border security.
Lawmakers toured a Border Patrol processing center and heard from local residents and sheriffs as well.
“We’ve learned a considerable amount of what’s going on at the border and it’s much of what we already anticipated,” Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) said during a Fox News interview about the trip.
The House Homeland Security Committee chairman highlighted one figure that did stand out, however: the amount cartels are making per week in just one sector alone.
“The cartels are making $32 million dollars a week, that’s one of nine sectors…just trafficking humans,” he told host Neil Cavuto. “That’s not counting the fentanyl that they’re pouring into this country. This is a catastrophe that’s happening to our country and it’s all on the hands of [Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas and Biden.”
🚨 #BREAKING: Border Patrol estimates that the cartels are earning $32 million a week from illegal aliens in the Del Rio, Texas sector alone.
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) January 3, 2024
$32,000,000.
PER WEEK.
The border trip comes as House Republicans are pushing to impeach Mayorkas and will initiate proceedings next week. On MSNBC, Mayorkas said he would cooperate.
A full committee hearing "to evaluate the impacts on the country of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ failed leadership and his refusal to enforce the laws passed by Congress" will take place Jan. 10, Green announced Wednesday.
“For almost three years, the American people have demanded an end to the unprecedented crisis at the Southwest border, and they have also rightly called for Congress to hold accountable those responsible,” Green said in a statement. “That’s why the House Committee on Homeland Security led a comprehensive investigation into the causes, costs, and consequences of this crisis. Our investigation made clear that this crisis finds its foundation in Secretary Mayorkas’ decision-making and refusal to enforce the laws passed by Congress, and that his failure to fulfill his oath of office demands accountability. The bipartisan House vote in November to refer articles of impeachment to my Committee only served to highlight the importance of our taking up the impeachment process—which is what we will begin doing next Wednesday.”