(NewsNation) — Texas Sen. John Cornyn and other Republican members of Congress will visit the southern border in the Rio Grande Valley.
It’s part of a series of tours and meetings to better understand the challenges faced by border officials as cartels continue to smuggle people and drugs into the U.S.
The House Homeland Security committee has been getting a firsthand look at the sophistication and craftiness of the cartels.
Reps. Mark Green (R, Tenn.) and Anthony D’Esposito (R, N.Y.) shared videos of an aerial ride-along showing migrants sneaking into the U.S. between the ports of entry attempting to elude law enforcement by running through the canyons and desert.
Drug smuggling is also a concern. D’Esposito also shared video of CBP appearing to intercept a fentanyl shipment hidden in a compartment in a car heading into the U.S.
Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, says it’s time to go after drug cartels harder.
“That’s the problem that we’re seeing on the southwest border,” Judd told NewsNation. “It has nothing to do with the safety and security of the American people. And it certainly doesn’t have anything to do with the safety of the migrants that would come up to the United States. If we truly wanted to keep those migrants safe, we would actually create policies that wouldn’t encourage them to put themselves in the hands of these dangerous criminal cartels.”
Thursday, CBP shared images of what it says were three vehicles stopped in Douglas, Arizona being used to smuggle 54 migrants.
Law enforcement’s message to the delegation is: Unless there’s some form of deterrence, this isn’t going away.