Former President Trump, Gov. Abbott visit southern border as illegal immigration increases
Fox News correspondent Griff Jenkins discusses the crisis at the southern border on 'Special Report.'
In the early morning hours Wednesday at the Texas border, Rep. August Pfluger said he witnessed firsthand the fallout of President Biden's immigration policies when hundreds of migrants entered the U.S. where the border wall with Mexico is unfinished.
Many of the migrants from Central America who were apprehended by United States Customs and Border Protection agents overnight in La Joya, Texas, were families and children, including a six-year-old boy who was found alone in the brush, Pfluger said.
The Texas GOP congressman asked the child where his parents were. The boy replied "I don't know" and revealed he was at the border by himself, Pfluger said.
Rep. August Pfluger R-Texas, talks with migrants he encountered at the Texas-Mexico border on June 30, 2021. (Jessica Weiner, Republican Study Committee)
"It's heartbreaking to see the kids in that situation," Pfluger told Fox News in an interview. "But Biden's policies have incentivized traffickers to do this."
Pfluger was one of 23 House Republicans who traveled to the Texas border Wednesday to join former President Donald Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to raise the alarms about the influx of migrants and drugs coming into the United States. They called on Biden to restore Trump-era immigration policies.
Rep. August Pfluger at Trump's speech at the Texas border on June 30, 2021. (Jessica Weiner, Republican Study Committee)
"The bottom line is that the Biden administration does not have the desire to protect Texans," Pfluger said. "They don't have the desire to protect our southern border [and] to secure our citizens. They have taken so many steps back from where we were just a year ago."
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Pfluger was stationed late Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning at a portion of the border where the wall stops. The migrants were tagged with wristbands by traffickers to indicate how much money they've paid to get to the border, Pfluger said. The migrants shed the bands when they got to the United States and the congressman picked several of them up as tangible proof of human trafficking.
Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, shows a wristband that a migrant wore at the Texas-Mexico border on June 30, 2021. (Jessica Weiner, Republican Study Committee)
Pfluger said he spoke with local authorities about the toll the daily churn of migrants seeking refuge in the United States is having on their resources. Another big concern is the drug smuggling that's occurring on the flanks of the checkpoints, he said.
He supports Abbott’s efforts to build the border wall that the Biden administration halted and to marshal law enforcement resources from governors around the country to help secure the border.
Picture of the unfinished border wall in Texas on June 29, 2021. (Rep. August Pfluger)
"The federal government abdicated their responsibility to protect the United States southern border, so Texas is going to defend the southern border," Pfluger said. "Governor Abbott's taking steps to do that."
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The GOP border trip was organized by the Republican Study Committee, the largest conservative caucus in the House.
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