My Trip to the Border

Washington, D.C. – Over the past weekend, Congressman Randy Weber (R-Friendswood) traveled down to McAllen, Texas to tour the border with various officials and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Congressman Weber made the following statement regarding his trip:

“On Thursday, I traveled down to McAllen, where I then spent the weekend touring the border with fellow Congressman Louie Gohmert, Senator Ted Cruz, Glenn Beck, Dana Loesch and various Texas Department of Public Safety (TxDPS) officials.

Friday

“On Friday, I toured the Texas DPS Regional Office in Weslaco Texas, where I met with the Regional Commander David Rodriguez and Regional Commander Duane Steen of the Houston Region. Around 10pm, Congressman Gohmert and I toured the border. Our trip was unannounced and unaccompanied. It was important that I get a first-hand account of the border without any pretense from third parties. The number one message that was relayed to us on how the government can help was simple; border patrol and Texas DPS need deterrents and an increased presence.

Saturday

“It was an early morning on Saturday. At 5am, I went on another border tour with Glenn Beck and Dana Loesch. After the tour, I met with several pastors at a Mission, Texas church, where we discussed the importance of treating these unaccompanied children kindly, and promptly sending them home to the families they left behind. Later that day, I ventured back to the border to meet with troopers and accompanied them on a perimeter ride. While there, I witnessed Texas DPS seize a jet ski that was primarily used as a human trafficking vehicle. I also witnessed a local constable arrest a Chinese National, which proves the point that those coming to the country illegally are not solely children from Central America. This is a global issue.

“In light of what I witnessed at the border, it is crystal clear we are being over-run by hundreds of thousands of people continuing to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, overwhelming U.S. resources. With the information obtained over the past weekend, I cannot in good conscious vote for funding allowing the President and his administration to further grow bureaucracy and perpetuate the message that our borders are wide open.

 “I will continue to push for my bill, H.R. 5014 – the Illegal Entry Accountability Act of 2014. My legislation will immediately suspend U.S. foreign aid to these countries until Congress determines that these countries have taken sufficient action to mitigate unlawful U.S.-Mexico border crossings by their respective citizens.

“This trip has also made it clear to me that our House leadership needs to have an all-day conference on border security and immigration reform. On July 11, I sent a second letter to Republican leadership imploring them to convene a conference where we can explore ideas from the entire conference. We are the representatives of our Congressional Districts and it is important that the views of our constituents are heard.”

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