House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will lead a House delegation to the U.S.-Mexico border Thursday for the first time since taking up the gavel.
McCarthy will head to the border area of Cochise County, Arizona with four other members of Congress, including Republican Reps. Juan Ciscomani of Arizona; Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon; Jen Kiggans of Virginia, and Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin.
McCarthy's office says he and the four freshman members of Congress will take an aerial tour of the area with agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The visit will be McCarthy's first since gaining the speakership in January, though he led several such trips during his time as Republican Leader.
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The visit comes as Republicans are lambasting President Biden's handling of the border crisis. Biden has seen monthly border encounters rise from 100,000 in February 2021 to over 250,000 in December 2022. CBP recorded more than 230,000 border encounters for the first time in October 2023, and each month since has surpassed that number.
That stat does not include the number of known "gotaways," or migrants who were detected by CBP authorities but not apprehended. Since Biden entered office in January 2021, border crossings have exploded, and at least 1.2 million migrants successfully evaded authorities.
Biden visited the border for the first time in his presidency in early January, but many border agents argued it was too little, too late. The border crisis has drawn even staunch Democrats like New York City Mayor Eric Adams to criticize Biden's handling of the issue.
CBP officials saw an estimated 718,000 border encounters in the first 100 days of fiscal year 2023, which began Oct. 1.
