Led Colleagues on Arizona – Mexico Border Trip.
As Vice Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security and Representative of a border-district, I am extremely proud to have led a group of nine first-term Members of Congress on a delegation trip to the Arizona-Mexico border. The trip highlighted the diverse nature of the border: commerce, tourism, trade, immigration, and security. See a full overview of the trip below.
We kicked off the trip the trip in Washington D.C. by meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson during a roundtable to exchange perspectives about the southern border and discuss our goals for this trip.
For our first stop on the trip, we met with local law enforcement officers, crime reduction advocates, and ranching stakeholders from Pinal, Pima and Cochise counties, where we discussed the need to further strengthen public safety and support southern Arizona’s vibrant agriculture industry.
Afterward, we traveled to the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales to meet with Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Office of Field Operations, where we talked about the importance of cross-border trade and how Congress can continue to support their critical mission of keeping our communities safe.
I always say, the border is comprised of three buckets - immigration, security, and trade. As legislators, we can - and must - work to address all three. After the Mariposa Port of Entry, we toured two warehouses in Nogales, Arizona, to learn more about the importance of agricultural commerce between Mexico and Arizona, by far our largest trading partner. We discussed tariffs, supply chains, and the robust impact that cross-border trade has on not only our border communities, but economy nationwide. Watch KGUN’s coverage of the warehouse tour here!
As legislators, understanding the situation at the southern border is essential to delivering on our promise to keep our communities safe. We joined U.S. Border Patrol at the Nogales Station and the border wall to learn about the changes they have seen since President Trump took office, the challenges they face daily, and how we can use our positions in Congress to continue to support them. Watch a video of this visit here!
Later that night, we went on a nighttime tour of the border alongside several National Border Patrol Council members, including Vice President Art Del Cueto, where we focused on the grave threat Mexican cartels continue to pose to our national security and the need to crackdown on spotters and informants who aid and abet cartel operations.
Earlier this year, I introduced the Transnational Criminal Organization Illicit Spotter Prevention and Elimination Act (H.R. 263) to increase penalties on anyone who helps criminals avoid our law enforcement at the border. Specifically, the bill imposes a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison to anyone who transmits the location or activity of law enforcement personnel, destroys or alters electronic devices, or is carrying a firearm during a human smuggling crime. Learn more about my bill here.
For our last stop, I was honored to lead the first group of Members of Congress to meet with the U.S. Northern Command and the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista. We heard from the commanders about their work assisting CBP and DHS in their mission to enforce border security and immigration laws as part of the Joint Task Force for Southern Border Operations.
After the end of the trip, I led a press conference with Members of the delegation to share our key takeaways from the trip, discuss policy implications, and answer questions from the media. Watch the full press conference here.
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