|
|
| ICYMI: What I saw at the border |
|
|
Friends,
I recently told you I traveled to the Rio Grande Valley Sector with other medical professionals in Congress and senior medical officials from the Department of Homeland Security. The trip had a special emphasis on medical screenings for migrants who have crossed the border. I discussed my trip in the Brunswick News today. Click here to read more about my experience.
What I saw at the border
As the only pharmacist currently serving in Congress, I am a member of the Doctors Caucus. Recently, a group of us traveled to McAllen, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Sector to see firsthand conditions at the border with a focus on medical treatments for children and how families are being treated.
Primarily because it is the southernmost sector, the RGV is the busiest in terms of illegal crossings. Every day about 4,000 migrants cross the southwestern border and about 1,000 are in the RGV.
Our visit started at the RGV headquarters where we had a briefing from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials who shared startling figures that support President Trump’s correct assertion that a crisis exists. Over 600,000 migrants are expected to cross the border this fiscal year with 320,000 of those crossing in the RGV sector.
Disturbingly, the Mexican cartels control the flow of illegal aliens coming across the border and in the RGV, three cartels control the entire sector. CBP shared with us that no one crosses the border without paying the cartel. It is estimated that the Mexican cartels are making $91 million per week through illegal aliens, drugs and other activities.
After our briefing, we headed to the RGV Centralized Processing Center (CPC) where we saw the overcrowded conditions there. With a capacity of 1,500, the RGV CPC typically sees 1,700-1,800 illegal aliens per day. Even with these demanding numbers, the dedicated CBP agents do an outstanding job of taking care of these illegal aliens, particularly the children. While at the RGV CPC illegal aliens are provided with basic human needs such as food, clothing and housing. They are also receiving excellent health care services in the field, in the stations and at release.
With very few exceptions these illegal aliens are receiving the best health care services they have ever received and many are receiving the only health care services they have ever had.
We also visited Anzalduas State Park for a tour of the McAllen Station. Here a unit was set up under a bridge where many illegal aliens surrender themselves. Approximately 1,000 illegal aliens a day come through this area and while we were there for only about 15 minutes, three different groups walked up to turn themselves in to authorities. I spoke to a family from El Salvador made up of a father, mother and 5 ½ year old daughter who just finished a month-long trek through Central America. Later in my visit, I saw them again at a processing center and they were being well taken care of.
We also stopped at the Weslaco Border Patrol Station that is used as a health center for children with communicable diseases such as flu and mumps. The sick children are kept here separate from well children at other processing centers and receive excellent medical care until they are well.
Our last stop was at the Donna Soft-sided Holding Facility (DHF), a tent center with 80,000 square feet under roof used for intake and processing. The facility has a capacity of 1,000 but the current census is running between 1,200 and 1,300.
My takeaways from this trip are numerous. First, we must secure our borders and we must do it now. We need a combination of things like technology and boots on the ground, and we must build the wall.
Second, we must fix our judicial infrastructure. We need more judges to hear the enormous number of cases.
Third, we must fix our broken immigration laws and close loopholes. The Flores Settlement Agreement and Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) are examples of laws needing to be changed.
Finally, we must address the magnets that are drawing these migrants to our country like higher wages and better living conditions. Agreements like the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) will require Mexico to increase their worker’s wages in certain sectors. This is an example of how this can be done.
I also need to acknowledge the outstanding job that CBP agents are doing, particularly when it comes to dealing with children and families.
Seeing something with your own eyes is always important and on this trip, I witnessed the situation at the border firsthand. It is a crisis. We must address this situation and do it now.
As always, thank you for the honor to serve.
-Buddy |
|
|
