Sessions Leads Mission to El Paso

DALLAS, TX – U.S. Congressman Pete Sessions, Chairman of the House Committee on Rules, released the following statement regarding the mission that he led to El Paso this week to learn more about the national security threats that our country faces on our southern border with Members from Texas, Congressman Brian Babin, Congressman Blake Farenthold, and Congressman Will Hurd, and Congressman Jeff Duncan from South Carolina:

“In the past year we have received alarming reports regarding federal agencies releasing criminal illegal aliens back into our neighborhoods. Within a three year period 86,000 criminal aliens were released back into our societies, including 196 criminals who were convicted of murder. These disturbing reports show that this administration continues to turn a blind eye to the laws of our country while American lives are put in jeopardy. This is unacceptable, which is why I led a group of my Republican colleagues down to El Paso to learn how we can strengthen our southern border to prevent criminal illegal aliens, Mexican drug cartels, and radical Islamic terrorists from entering our country and endangering our communities.

“As a part of this mission we met with servicemen and women from the largest Army Base in the United States, Fort Bliss, and received classified briefings from the Drug Enforcement Agency on cartel and Western Hemisphere security threats at the El Paso Intelligence Center.  These briefings with both federal agencies and a private national security firm provided unique and necessary insight into the national security issues that Texans and our country face. Protecting our southern border is of the utmost importance and I will continue to take the lead on these issues to close our porous borders, bolster interior enforcement, and protect American families.”

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