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Congresswomen Veronica Escobar (TX-16) and Xochitl Torres Small (NM-02) will lead a Congressional Delegation to the U.S.-Mexico Border on Saturday to meet with immigrant advocates and receive a briefing on border security from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Saturday, February 9, 2019.

The Congressional delegation will be attended by House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) and Reps. Deb Haaland (NM-01) and Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05).

“The El Paso sector has unfortunately been ground zero for the Trump administration’s cruel anti-immigrant policies, including being the testing ground for the administration’s family separation policy, to being the site of the Tornillo child detention facility, to the sector where two children who died in U.S. custody were apprehended. In order to create smart and humane border public policy, it’s important for Congress to understand as much as possible about the border,” said Congresswoman Escobar. “I thank Congresswoman Torres Small for joining me in this effort, and am grateful to Leader Hoyer and my colleagues for their willingness to come to our southern border to see the full and complete picture.”

“The realities of life on the border are often misrepresented and politicized by those in Washington,” said Congresswoman Torres Small. “I am excited to have the opportunity to show leadership and other Members my home, the community I grew up in, and talk with them about the real challenges we face along the border, from our most rural stretches to our most urban centers.”

“Despite the President’s demagoguery over immigration, there is not a national emergency or a security crisis at the border that demands a wall,” said Leader Hoyer. “We face challenges at the border, and as negotiations over how to best secure the border continue, I feel it is important to travel there to meet directly with immigrant advocates about the humanitarian situation as well as receive a border security briefing. I thank Reps. Escobar and Torres Small for inviting me to their districts and Reps. Haaland and Scanlon for joining us. I look forward to an informative trip.”

During the trip, the delegation will meet with local immigrant advocates and visit a migrant shelter in El Paso, TX. In the afternoon, the delegation will visit multiple points along the border, including the Paso Del Norte port of entry and the area where Felipe Alonzo-Gomez, a young migrant child who died in CBP custody, was apprehended. CBP officials will brief the Members.

At 4:30 pm MDT, Members will conclude the visit with a press conference at a location close to the border.

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