Delgado to visit US-Mexico border
Congressman, one of seven making trip today, plans to visit holding facility in McAllen, Texas
Mid-Hudson Valley Congressman Antonio Delgado will be part of a delegation visiting the Rio Grand Valley in Texas on Friday to examine the conditions in government facilities at the U.S.-Mexico border, the congressman’s office says.
Rep. Delgado, along with six other Democratic members of the House and two Republicans, will visit Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities around McAllen, Texas, including a Border Patrol station, a processing center, a holding facility and a port of entry, according to his office.
The delegation also will visit a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shelter and meet with immigration officials who work at the border.
“I share in the outrage and
frustration at the reports we’ve seen of facilities at our southern border, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to join my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to see, hear and feel these conditions first-hand,” Delgado, D-Rhinebeck, said in a prepared statement. “I plan to use this visit as an opportunity to provide much-needed oversight and probe CBP and HHS officials to ensure these facilities maintain the safe and sanitary conditions required by our laws.
“It is my sincere hope that following this trip we can work together on real solutions that are humane and uphold our American values,” the first-term congressman added.
Delgado’s announcement of his planned visit to the border comes 16 days after about 100 people gathered outside his district office in Kingston to protest conditions at border facilities where migrants are held, many in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions.
The demonstrators called on Delgado to visit a detention center, work to close the holding centers, reject any additional federal funding for family detention and deportation, and help reunite separated families.
Delgado’s office said the other House members making the trip to the border will be Kathleen Rice, DN.Y., Clay Higgins, R-La., Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., Xochitl Torres Small, DN.M., Max Rose, D-N.Y., Sheila Jackson Lee, DTexas, Nanette Barragán, D-Calif., and Mark Walker, R-N.C.