Lawmakers flock to border as more migrants arrive
WASHINGTON — It’s not an ordinary sight — a group of sitting Republican senators, including Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham, dressed in tactical gear, floating along the Rio Grande in a boat armed with machine guns.
But lately, scenes of lawmakers at the southern border have become a common occurrence, as a steady stream of them venture to the region to speak about immigration, meet with Border Patrol agents and view migrant camps.
“So it’s past midnight. I’m standing on the shore of the Rio Grande, the water’s right behind me,” Cruz, R-Texas, says in a nighttime video. “I’m down at the Texas border along with 18 senators. We made the trip to see the crisis that is playing out.”
Like Cruz, many lawmakers, including Democrats, have used their visits to shoot personal videos, updating constituents and social media followers about what they saw.
The Biden administration has taken heat during these trips from both sides of the aisle — but from Republicans in particular.
Historically high numbers of migrants, particularly minors without their parents, have been arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in recent weeks, forcing the Biden administration to hastily set up emergency intake sites to manage thousands of unaccompanied children.
In March, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents encountered a migrant at the border more than 172,000 times, including 18,890 unaccompanied minors, according to data released by Customs and Border Protection — the highest number of encounters in a single month in at least a decade.
Republican critics of the new Democratic White House have highlighted images of cramped border facilities, saying President Joe Biden has given migrants an incentive to come because of his departure from the hard-line immigration policies of his predecessor.
“This has been the most disturbing field tour that I’ve ever taken,” Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee immigration panel, said at an April 7 news conference. “Yesterday we watched literally hundreds of illegal migrants crossing the border and turning themselves in to the Border Patrol.”
The trips can be substantive, giving lawmakers and congressional staffers from other parts of the country a chance to visit the region and speak to local officials on the ground.
Brandon Judd, president of the Border Patrol agents’ union, said while lawmakers do politicize border issues, the congressional delegation, or codel, trips can serve to bring more attention to the area.
“The codel trips are extremely important because it shines a light on the issue, and once you have that, you have a better chance of getting it done,” he said.
But the trips are also opportunities for lawmakers to highlight political talking points, said Sarah Pierce, a policy analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute.
“I definitely think that the purpose of the visits is more political theater than it is not, especially when it comes to immigration and the southern border, which is just, kind of made for TV,” she said.