Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has asked for a briefing from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about two caravans of migrants traveling to the U.S. southern border.
In a Thursday letter to Nielsen and Pompeo, Grassley said additional information on these groups will assist the panel to “address the needs of vulnerable asylum-seekers who need humanitarian relief,” assist DHS officers who are processing those at the border. He also said a briefing would help prevent migrants who are “national security threats” from entering the U.S.
Grassley wrote that his office has obtained information indicating that “several members of the first caravan have significant criminal histories, including assault and sexual misconduct against a child, and membership in the MS-13 gang.”
As a result, Grassley requested that the DHS Human Smuggling Cell and the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs provide a briefing to address statistics of how many migrants in the caravans have indicated they want to seek asylum in the U.S., and how many have sought asylum in Mexico. Grassley also requested information about the migrants’ country of origin and criminal history, among other things.
Trump announced Wednesday that up to 15,000 troops will be sent to the U.S.-Mexican border before the first caravan arrives, after the Pentagon announced Monday that at least 5,200 troops would be deployed.
“Nobody is coming in. We’re not allowing people to come in,” Trump told reporters Wednesday.
