Greetings,
Last week, I led a delegation of 18 of my Senate Republican colleagues to the southern border in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) of Texas to see firsthand the ongoing crisis. The first night, we went out with Border Patrol agents on their midnight patrol and witnessed a stream of people crossing into the country illegally, many young children and mothers, turning themselves in to agents. During the night patrol, we heard cartel members taunting us as we toured the border. They knew because of President Biden’s policies there was nothing that could be done to stop them.
The following day we toured the Donna Processing Facility, a gigantic tent city located in Donna, Texas, which has been constructed as an emergency intake facility for illegal immigrants. The Donna facility is designed to hold 1,000 people, and during COVID-19, it’s designed to hold 250 people. When we visited the center, there were over 4,000 people in the facility – exceeding its capacity by 1,500 percent. The pictures and video my colleagues and I captured of the conditions in the facility show shocking and inhumane conditions.
We then received a briefing from the RGV Sector Border Patrol Wall Team on construction of the border wall that had been halted immediately by President Biden in his first week of office. Now with construction halted, there are gaps and unused construction equipment left behind, leaving easy access for a steady stream of illegal immigrants. WATCH: Cruz: The Crisis at the Border Is the Direct Consequence of Pres. Biden's Policy Decisions 
WATCH: Cruz on Fox Discusses Recent Border Tour & Heartbreaking Realities of the Crisis Pres. Biden Created
On Monday, I toured the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas (KBHCCD), that has been turned into a FEMA and HHS led Emergency Intake Site, housing over 2,200 boys. The migrant boys, ages 13 to 17, are in one enormous room the size of three and a half football fields with cots, each set out about six feet apart. Even though there is social distancing, the rate of COVID-positive testing at the convention center is roughly 10 percent. At the Donna facility, the rate is nearly identical. In Harlingen, of the illegal immigrants being released, they’re testing positive for COVID-19 at a rate seven times higher than the US population. This is dangerous.
In advance of my tour of the KBHCCD site, I sent a letter to President Biden demanding press access inside the detention facility. My demand was rejected, along with my previous request for press access in the Donna Processing Facility. I wish President Biden had listened to me sooner, but this week, he finally listened and allowed media cameras into the Donna facility so the American people can see this crisis firsthand.
READ: Sen. Cruz Renews Calls for Press Access Amid Biden’s Border Crisis & Media Blackout
In the month of February, over 100,000 people were apprehended crossing illegally and nearly 30,000 unaccompanied children were apprehended. Today, the Biden administration has in custody over 16,000 children. This crisis that is unfolding is the direct result of political decisions made by President Biden.
LISTEN: Cruz on the Michael Berry Show Discusses Recent Tour of the Southern Border & Migrant Facilities
This humanitarian, national security, and public health crisis is tragic, inhumane, and worst of all, it was entirely preventable. In the absence of President Biden’s leadership, I intend to work alongside my colleagues in the Senate to address this crisis on the border for Texans and all Americans.
President Biden, enough is enough.
Keep Texas Strong,
Ted Cruz
NOTABLE MEDIA COVERAGE OF SEN. CRUZ KSAT12 San Antonio: Sens. Ted Cruz, John Cornyn give update after leading Senate delegation in border tour
“Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz visited the Texas-Mexico border on Friday afternoon to lead a Senate delegation in a tour of the area. All 18 senators spoke at a news conference at 2:30 p.m. in Anzalduas Park in Mission after a boat tour from the Texas Department of Public Safety. Cornyn and Cruz have taken aim at the Biden administration as the number of migrants attempting to cross the border reached the highest level since a spring 2019 surge under President Donald Trump, according to the most recently released statistics.” Fox4 Dallas Fort-Worth: Republican, Democratic congressional delegations visit Texas-Mexico border amid migrant influx
“Some Texas congressional members got an up-close look at the situation along the southern border on Friday. A Republican delegation, including U.S. Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, took a boat tour in Mission, Texas and toured a facility in Donna, Texas. […] Cruz and Cornyn got an early morning tour of the southern border near Mission where migrants -- many of them un-accompanied minors -- are trying to cross over into the United States. ‘This is dangerous to the people who turn themselves over, the unaccompanied children,’ Cornyn said. The two U.S. Senators from Texas led a delegation of some 20 GOP senators as daylight broke. The lawmakers also got a look at the border by boat, part of their two-day tour. ‘What is occurring here on the border is heartbreaking and is a tragedy,’ Cruz said.” Townhall: Piles of People: New Photos Show What Biden is Trying to Hide at the Border’
“Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz has released new and never seen before photos from inside an overcrowded Customs and Border Protection facility in Donna, Texas. These are the types of facilities the Biden administration has banned media from entering or touring. Earlier in the day Cruz, along with other Senators on a delegation to the border, showed how smugglers use the Rio Grande to drop off illegal immigrants in the United States. Maine Senator Susan Collins said they were taunted by cartel members from across the river.” The Blaze: Ted Cruz reports from the border: Cartels are 'taunting' American Border Patrol
“Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Thursday night shared video from the southern border that appears to show individuals with flashlights on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande river yelling at the Americans on the other side. Cruz said these were drug cartel members and human smugglers taunting Border Patrol agents. Cruz and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) led a Senate delegation to the U.S.-Mexico border this week to observe how federal law enforcement is handling the recent migrant surge. In a tweet, Cruz said, ‘We encountered human traffickers & cartel members tonight, yelling at us across the Rio Grande and preparing to cross.’ So it's past midnight, I'm standing on the shore of the Rio Grande — the water is right behind me. I'm down at the Texas border along with 18 senators. We made the trip to see the crisis that is playing out,’ Cruz said in a second video. Cruz described visiting "overrun" detention facilities operated by CBP used to hold migrants who were apprehended attempting to cross into the United States illegally. Cruz said he saw families, including mothers nursing infants, "housed in outdoor holding pens where they were sleeping on the floor.’” USA Today: 'Heartbreaking': Republicans slam Biden for migrant influx, while Democrats call on Biden to quickly move children to sponsors
“Groups of lawmakers visited the U.S.-Mexico border Friday, as the Biden administration continues to come under fire by both Republican and Democrats for the influx of migrants at the southern border. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, both of Texas, led a group of more than a dozen Republican senators to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. That area is seeing some of the largest numbers of migrants crossing into the United States. The lawmakers received a briefing by officials on the situation at the border, toured the Customs and Border Protection Facility in Donna, Texas, and took a boat tour in Mission, Texas. The group also received a nighttime border tour by the National Border Patrol Council in Mission on Thursday. ‘John and I were able to bring 18 senators down to Texas, down to the Valley, to see firsthand the crisis that is unfolding here,’ Cruz said in a press briefing Friday. ‘All of us today witnessed the 'Biden cages.' What is occurring here on the border is heartbreaking, and it is a tragedy.’” Fox News: GOP senators reveal shocking images of migrants, babies packed in border facilities
“National Border Patrol Council president Brandon Judd recounts human smugglers 'taunting' border patrol and GOP Senators who visited the southern border. Republican senators on Friday released shocking pictures of migrants and children packed into border facilities as they railed against what they called a border crisis of President Biden’s own creation. ‘This is inhumane, it is wrong and it is the direct consequence of policy decisions by the Biden administration to stop building the wall, to return to catch-and-release, and to end the stay-in-Mexico policy,’ Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in a press conference. The 19-person delegation, led by Sens. Cruz and John Cornyn, R-Texas, toured a facility in Donna, where migrants have been packed into facilities designed for many fewer migrants. Cruz told reporters that the facility designed for 250 migrants had nearly 4000.”
Daily Wire: Cruz To Biden: Let The Media Into CBP Facilities So America Can See ‘Your Administration’s Failures’
“Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) slammed President Joe Biden in a letter over the weekend for blocking the media from being able to see the crisis that is unfolding on the border, accusing the president of intentionally trying to prevent the American people from seeing the Biden administration’s ‘failures’ on the border. ‘This past Thursday and Friday, eighteen of my Senate colleagues and I visited the border and witnessed firsthand the staggering public health and humanitarian crisis caused by your policies,’ Cruz wrote. ‘We understand the heartbreaking tragedy unfolding at the border because we were there. We saw it. But the American people are unable to see it because you remain intent on keeping the media from shining a light on your administration’s failures.’ […] Cruz posted a video to social media on Sunday that allegedly showed a Biden administration official repeatedly trying to block him from taking pictures of migrants being crammed together in overcrowded facilities during a pandemic.”
Law Enforcement Today: Sen. Ted Cruz blocked by Biden staffer from filming video of migrant facility that's at 1500% capacity
“On a recent showing of ‘Sunday Morning Futures,’ Senator Ted Cruz showed exclusive video of a woman he identified as a Biden administration staffer blocking him from recording at a migrant facility. Cruz and Sen. John Cornyn, both Texas Republicans, led a delegation of senators down to Donna, Texas where migrants have been reportedly packed into facilities designed for a much smaller number of people. What he and his fellow colleagues reported is beyond troubling and during his appearance on Sunday morning with Fox Business show host Maria Bartiromo, he shared some of his insights about this horrific problem. Cruz said: ‘We spent a day and a half down at the border and I’ll tell you, it is bad. I’ve been to the border many, many times. It is the worst I’ve ever seen. It is a full-blown crisis.’”
Independent Journal Review: Cruz: Biden Remains ‘Intent’ on Keeping Media From ‘Shining Light’ on Admin’s ‘Failures’
“Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is convinced President Joe Biden is unwilling to give the media access to facilities at the U.S.-Mexico border. ‘This past Thursday and Friday, eighteen of my Senate colleagues and I visited the border and witnessed firsthand the staggering public health and humanitarian crisis caused by your policies,’ Cruz wrote in a letter to the president. He added, ‘We understand the heartbreaking tragedy unfolding at the border because we were there. We saw it. But the American people are unable to see it because you remain intent on keeping the media from shining a light on your administration’s failures.’ The senator mentioned the press conference Republican senators held at the border on Friday. ‘Journalists from across the country came to report. Yet not a single one of those cameras, and not a single one of those reporters, was allowed inside the Donna Facility that we toured earlier that day,’ Cruz continued.”
ADDITIONAL FROM SEN. CRUZ
Sen. Cruz, Republican Senate Colleagues Tour Donna Facility, Meet With Local Officials and Authorities to Address Border Crisis
MISSION, Texas - U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and John Cornyn (R-Texas), joined by Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) this week participated in a roundtable with stakeholders, including Brandon Judd, the President of National Border Patrol Council, to discuss the conditions on the ground in the Rio Grande Valley. Read more…
POOL VIDEO: Sens. Cruz, Cornyn Lead Senate Delegation, Tour Border with National Border Patrol Council
MISSION, Texas - U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) last night led a Congressional Delegation (CODEL) with 17 of their Senate colleagues to see the ongoing crisis at the border firsthand in Mission, Texas. Sen. Cruz and his colleagues were given a tour of the border by the National Border Patrol Council after attending a muster with border patrol agents ahead of their nightly patrol. Read more….
Sens. Cruz, Tuberville Introduce Bill to Prohibit Illegal Migrants from Getting ‘Free Pass’ into U.S.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) today introduced legislation that would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to issue a Notice to Appear (NTA) in court prior to releasing any immigrant who illegally entered into the United States. Read more…
Sen. Cruz: President Biden is Hiding the Worst of The Border Crisis
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Every day new details emerge about the humanitarian crisis on our southern border. As Sen. Cruz leads a group of his Senate colleagues in a visit to the border, they will be able to see firsthand the crisis that is unfolding there. Unfortunately, the American people will not, as the Biden administration continues to prevent free and fair reporting on the humanitarian, national security, and public health ramifications of this crisis. Read more…
Sen. Cruz Demands President Biden Allow Press Access to Border Crisis
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today ramped up pressure on President Biden to allow free and fair reporting on the humanitarian, national security, and public health crises at the southern border. This comes ahead of a tour Sens. Cruz and John Cornyn (R-Texas) will lead on Friday to the Rio Grande Valley. In a letter, Sen. Cruz wrote: “As part of our oversight duties as Senators, I and 14 of my colleagues will travel to the border this week to talk to the brave men and women on the ground who are working every today to stop this crisis and secure our border.” Read more…
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