Latta Recap from Congressional Delegation Trip to the Southern Border

Press Release

Congressman Bob Latta (R-OH5) returned from a congressional delegation trip to the southern border led by House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA1) on Friday evening. The trip included nine other House members who were able to see firsthand the ongoing issues the nation is facing on its border. There were over 172,000 migrants apprehended at the US-Mexico border in March -- a 71% increase over a year ago.

"What I saw at the southern border was staggering," said Latta. "What is happening is a humanitarian disaster. We visited the Donna, Texas Migrant Processing Facility which was meant to hold 250 people-right now it's holding 3,500. 51 countries were represented at the facility. While the professionalism of the Custom and Border Patrol (CBP), Texas State Troopers, other federal and state law enforcement, and the Texas National Guard keep this from being even worse, there is no doubt from anyone who has seen this can call it anything but a massive crisis."

"I saw holding "pods' that are only designed to hold 33 Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) with 452 little kids in them," continued Latta. "The week before, one pod had over 600 little girls in it. As of March 25th of this year, the CBP had 5,500 UAC's in their custody. They are only supposed to have them for 72 hours. One small girl has been there for 28 days. Again, this is not the fault of the CBP. As a parent, you can't imagine your own children in this situation."

"My question is this: Where is the President? Where is the Vice President? Why won't they come to the border? The American people must demand it," continued Latta.

"This crisis can be tied directly to the policies and the words of the Biden Administration," concluded Latta. "They need to reverse course, secure our border, and make clear to those who want to come our country that they must go through the proper legal channels."

On Thursday evening, Latta participated in evening ride-along tours with the National Border Patrol Council and a riverine tour with the Texas Department of Public Safety. Latta was briefed that 40% percent of CBP has been pulled off of patrol duty to deal with the migrant surge. That means less officers doing their normal duties to stop criminals, terrorists, and illegal narcotics from coming across the border. Criminal organizations are estimated to have made over $400 million in February of this year on trafficking activities at the border according to CBP.

Latta and the other delegation members also toured the Donna Migrant Processing Facility, the border wall in McAllen, and met with Border Patrol Agents.

The following members joined the delegation:

Republican Leader of the House Administration Committee Rodney Davis (R-IL13)
Republican Leader of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Michael McCaul (R-TX10)
Republican Leader of the House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes (R-CA22)
House Republican Conference Secretary Richard Hudson (R-NC8)
Congressman French Hill (R-AR2)
Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY11)
Congressman Steve Stivers (R-OH15)
Congresswoman Ann Wagner (R-MO2)
Congressman Steve Womack (R-AR3)

Source