This week, Democrats will boycott a congressional trip to the US-Mexico border on the grounds that it is a political maneuver by Republicans to exaggerate the issue of the border.
Wednesday morning, the 15 Democratic members of the House Homeland Security Committee will not travel to South Texas for a two-panel hearing conducted by the Republican leadership.
Chairman Mark Green (R-Tennessee) stated last week that the committee would host a hearing in the Rio Grande Valley and hear from, among other witnesses, the head of the US Border Patrol.
Green attacked Democrats for inviting a witness of their choosing and then abandoning that witness by failing to appear at the hearing. An official from Immigration and Customs Enforcement is still scheduled to appear at the hearing.
After careful consideration, the committee’s 15 Democrats have decided not to attend this week’s Republican field hearing,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee’s ranking Democrat.
Regrettably, it is now evident that Republicans intended to politicize this event from the beginning, breaking with the committee’s great nonpartisan tradition.
Republicans Attack Biden Administration
Instead of conducting a fact-finding mission to develop better border security and immigration policies, Republicans are traveling to the border to attack the administration and score political points with extreme rhetoric, despite having voted against providing border personnel with the necessary resources.
Democrats are in frequent contact with department leadership and stakeholders on the ground, and they will do substantial border site visits as early as this week. It indicates that Republicans will have the entire committee to themselves when they meet in the Rio Grande Valley to hear from the chief US Border Patrol official.
It was evidence, according to Chairman Mark Green, that Democrats were uninterested in addressing the problems at the border. ‘It is quite regrettable that the minority members of the committee have decided to skip this week’s full committee field hearing in Texas, after inviting and confirming a minority witness for one of the panels,’ he said.
The only message their absence conveys is that they are unwilling to discuss the destruction this border crisis is having on Americans and their communities across the country.
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