U.S. Senator Katie Britt went to Texas Thursday, where she joined Sen. John Cornyn and a group of Senate colleagues on a tour of the Rio Grande Valley Sector to survey the ongoing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“There is an unprecedented national security and humanitarian crisis at our southern border,” said Sen. Britt. “Acknowledging there is a problem is the first step to solving it, but unfortunately, President Joe Biden won’t even do that. I am grateful to have this opportunity to see the problem in the Rio Grande Valley firsthand, ask tough questions, listen, and learn – so we can fight for the best possible solutions in the Senate. The number of Americans dying from fentanyl poisoning is equivalent to a commercial airplane going down in our country every single day. Just this week, CBP announced it busted a passenger vehicle that was carrying enough fentanyl to kill every single Alabamian 10 times over. It’s past time for action.”
“The scope and scale of this crisis is absolutely unprecedented, and it’s having a major impact on our border security missions,” Sen. Cornyn said. “I’m eager to return this evening to the Texas southern border with another group of colleagues. Senators [John] Thune from South Dakota, Senator [Roger] Wicker from Mississippi, Senators [Deb] Fischer and [Pete] Ricketts from Nebraska, and Senator Britt from Alabama will join me for a series of tours and meetings in the Rio Grande Valley starting this evening.”
The senators are participating in both night and daytime tours of the border with law enforcement on land and water. They will also visit the Border Patrol’s Ursula Central Processing Center and meet with local law enforcement and landowners to discuss the impact of the Biden Administration’s border policies on local communities.
“We’ll receive a tour of the border from some of the dedicated law enforcement officials who protect it,” Cornyn added. “We’ll get a look at one of the border processing centers and learn about the challenges they’re facing due to the sheer volume of migrants crossing the border every day. We’ll talk to local law enforcement officials as well, the sheriffs, the private landowners on how this flood of humanity is impacting their communities. We’ll receive briefings about efforts to secure the border.”
The senators will also receive briefings from the National Border Patrol Council, Customs and Border Protection, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and Texas’ new border czar to discuss federal and state efforts to secure the southern border.
“It’s important that as many Senators as possible see and understand the dynamics of what’s happening,” Cornyn concluded. “If we’re going to have a shot at fixing this mess, which can only happen on a bipartisan basis, then everyone needs to know what we’re up against.”
Senator Britt is the ranking member of the Homeland Security subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. In her first two months in office, Sen. Britt has visited both the Del Rio Sector of the border in Texas and the San Diego Sector of the border in California.
Katie Britt has introduced several pieces of legislation to implement immigration reforms and tighten border security.
Britt won a landslide election in November over both a Democratic and Libertarian opponent in her first run for public office. Britt is an attorney and the former President and CEO of the Business Council of Alabama. She previously worked as chief of staff for former Sen. Richard Shelby.
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