Photo courtesy of Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith’s Office
As part of a group of 19 Republican Senators, Mississippi Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith visited the southern border for briefings and tours Thursday and Friday.
The visit, led by Texas Senators Ted Cruz & John Cornyn, comes as statistics shared by the senator show that apprehensions of single adults at the border rose by 175% compared to February 2020, while unaccompanied alien children/single minors rose by 171%. The apprehension of family unit aliens also rose 170%.
Following a tour of the Donna Temporary Processing Facility in McAllen, Texas, Senator Hyde-Smith spoke at a press briefing to discuss what she observed.
�I�m a mother, I have a daughter. After visiting where these kids are being kept, that are close to my daughter�s age, the stories we are hearing are beyond horrifying, that�s happening to these young girls. We have a job to do. We�ve got to go back to D.C. Not only do we have to save this border, we�ve got to save this country,” she said.
Other stops included a visit to the inspection and arrival situations at the Pharr International Bridge, an outdoor temporary processing site, and the delegation took part in a public safety riverine tour on the Rio Grande. After arriving in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas on Thursday night, Border Patrol agents hosted the Senate delegation on a night operation tour of the border.
�We have talked to these border patrols and they have told us how overwhelmed they are, how over-capacitated they are. These guys have a hard job and they were just beginning to get a little relief before these policies changed,� Hyde-Smith said referring to the Biden Administration�s efforts to rollback Trump-era immigration policies.�
Hyde-Smith serves on the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee that has jurisdiction over the federal agencies dealing with enforcing U.S. immigration and border security laws.� She also serves on the subcommittee that funds the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the agency responsible for handling unaccompanied minors who cross the border.
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