WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger will visit the southern border of the United States on Friday, July 19, 2019 with a bipartisan group of her U.S. House colleagues.

During the visit, Spanberger and her colleagues will inspect points of entry, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection station, and an immigration detention facility near McAllen, Texas. Additionally, Spanberger will inspect the physical U.S.-Mexico border and will actively participate in briefings and discussions with border security and human rights experts.

“The humanitarian and national security situation at our southwest border continues to be one marked by great instability and continued human suffering. As a former federal law enforcement agent and a former intelligence officer, I recognize the ever-evolving challenge of keeping our borders secure, and as a legislator and American, I affirm that we must ensure that our country’s treatment of those processed and detained at U.S. border facilities is in keeping with our values,” said Spanberger. “On this bipartisan visit, we will visit our border facilities and speak directly with law enforcement personnel on the ground as well as the individuals and families who are detained in U.S. facilities along the border. Congress has a responsibility to pursue a long-term solution to address the challenges of our immigration policies, and we must build a forward-thinking strategy that improves conditions for those in detention facilities, fixes our broken immigration system, keeps our borders secure, strengthens our drug detection efforts at ports of entry, and respects the rule of law. The goal of this bipartisan trip is to share the experience of these visits and conversations with our colleagues across the political spectrum, so that we may actually take firm steps forward in resolving our immediate immigration crisis and securing our border security long term.”

U.S. Representatives Dean Phillips (D-MN-03) and Lloyd Smucker (R-PA-11) are co-leading the trip to the southern border.

Spanberger has continued to advocate for smart, effective reforms to U.S. border security and immigration policies—and she has stressed the importance of addressing the root causes of increased migration. Recently, the U.S. House passed her bipartisan amendment to require the U.S. intelligence community to better understand the ripple effects of drug trafficking, human trafficking, and human smuggling in the Northern Triangle and Mexico. And last month, she joined a majority of the U.S. House of Representatives in passing a bipartisan emergency supplemental funding package to help mitigate the effects of the humanitarian crisis at the southern border.

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