Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform Committee Monday demanded that their Democratic counterparts explain why they traveled to Mexico on two occasions this summer with a congresswoman who sent congressional staff south of the border to coach asylum seekers.
The Washington Examiner reported in July that aides to Texas Democrat Veronica Escobar traveled to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico earlier this summer to find migrants who been returned from border crossings in El Paso, Texas, under the “remain in Mexico” policy. The aides then coached some of those who were told to await U.S. asylum decisions in Mexico how to exploit loopholes in the Migration Protection Protocols program.
“They went through and interviewed everybody, cherry-picked them, brought them back, and now are using them as tag lines. They’re going over there and manufacturing a lot of these issues,” a National Border Patrol Council official in El Paso said in July. “What we’re hearing from management is that they’re attempting to return people, and the story was changed in Mexico, where a person who understood Spanish before now doesn’t understand — where a person who didn’t have any health issues before now has health issues.”
Under the “Remain in Mexico” policy, anyone returned to Mexico must be fluent in Spanish because they may have to reside in the Spanish-speaking country up to five years until a U.S. federal judge decides the asylum claim.
In a letter Monday from House Oversight Ranking Member Jim Jordan obtained by the Washington Examiner, the senior Republican asked Chairman Elijah Cummings about the type of “oversight” the lawmakers claimed to have provided while out of the country and why they traveled with Escobar in light of her potential misuse of congressional staff.
“Although you have the authority to direct Committee staff to travel internationally on official Committee business, you have not explained why you authorized this travel into Mexico or what you sought to learn through these trips,” Jordan wrote, referring to the Aug. 21 and Aug. 27 visits to northern cities in Mexico.
Jordan asked Cummings why Democrats would secretly go on trip with Escobar and not inform the proper channels to provide security.
“In light of media reports that Rep. Escobar has been ‘coaching’ migrants on how to exploit immigration laws, why did you invite Rep. Escobar’s office to join your trip to Ciudad Juarez?” Jordan asked. “If you met with migrants in Ciudad Juarez with Rep. Escobar’s office, please describe any ‘coaching about U.S. immigration laws given to migrants.'”
The Ohio Republican also asked for a detailed itinerary of the trips, what the lawmakers did to provide congressional oversight, a list of attendees, why the group did not advise the State Department about the trips, and if they plan to visit Mexico again.
Oversight Committee Republicans did not go along because the trip had not been approved by the State Department, which normally weighs in on trips prior to lawmakers’ international travel.
Jordan claimed Democrats had used tours of Border Patrol stations to “delegitimize the Administration’s border security efforts and vilify the men and women who protect our border,” despite using Border Patrol as a security escort back to the United States from Mexico.
A Department of Homeland Security official said Democrats, nonprofit organizations, and 2020 hopefuls “are furious that these migrants” are not permitted to “await their court dates in the U.S., where they have the opportunity to disappear and slip into the interior never to be seen again.”
Escobar did not respond to a request for comment for the July Washington Examiner story but posted messages on Twitter calling the statements by CBP and union officials “fabricated.”
