House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaks to the media after the opening ceremony of the World Ag Expo in Tulare, Calif., on Tuesday.

Craig Korrath/Fresno Bee/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

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Craig Korrath/Fresno Bee/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaks to the media after the opening ceremony of the World Ag Expo in Tulare, Calif., on Tuesday.

Craig Korrath/Fresno Bee/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Against the backdrop of southern Arizona, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is visiting the U.S.-Mexico border for the first time since assuming his new leadership role.

McCarthy said four House Republican freshmen, including Arizona Rep. Juan Ciscomani, will be on the trip for a congressional delegation.

The group will travel to the Tucson area for a briefing and aerial tour from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, followed by a press conference at a Cochise County, Arizona ranch.

“Congress will continue to highlight this crisis until this administration begins to secure its borders and protect its fellow Americans,” said Wisconsin Representative Derrick Van Oden, who is traveling with McCarthy. said prior to the visit.

While McCarthy was the leader of the House Republican Party, he led three congressional delegations to the Texas border area. November and April Before 2022 2021.

The senior Republican aide told NPR that his visit to Arizona would highlight a separate section of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border to address local issues facing border communities facing strained demands. He said it explained the breadth of

McCarthy’s visit will also showcase the next generation of lawmakers who could take the lead on border security and immigration law, he said.

Cisco mani who gave Spanish Rebuttal to President Biden’s State of the Union Address Last Weekwas the first Mexican immigrant elected to Congress to represent Arizona. Freshman Congresswoman Jen Kigans of Virginia and Lori Chavez Delemar of Oregon will also attend.

Critics, including some immigration supporters and House Democrats, denounced the plan.

They say House Republicans spread disinformation through these border efforts, faced legislative failures on related reforms, and used the trip as a photo op.

Douglas Rivlin, director of communications for immigration advocacy group America’s Voice, claims Republican border visits are largely acting like what he calls a dog whistle MAGA Republican extremists.

“So instead of actually legislating, the chairman will do yet another border photoshoot to send a message to MAGA critics that they are as anti-immigrant as they are and will be on Fox News,” said the ex. Democratic congressional staffer Rivlin said .

Thursday’s visit comes as House Republicans step up open-air hearings in border areas since taking control of the House. Several House panels have jurisdiction over this issue.

A week from today, Speaker Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) will lead a field hearing of the House Judiciary Committee in Yuma, Arizona, more than 200 miles west of McCarthy’s visit on Thursday. recently, Republicans are the only ones who have confirmed to attend next week’s hearings. For now, Democratic lawmakers tell NPR that they have refused to attend the planned hearings at the southern border.

yesterday, Subcommittees of the House Oversight Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee held joint field hearings. in Weslaco, a Texas border community near McAllen Only Republicans attended. A senior Republican aide told NPR that more field hearings in border areas are expected in the future.

Already a full House judiciary and monitoring The commission held its own Capitol hearings at the border during the first two weeks of the conference.

Democrats representing some of the border areas the group visits are calling the trip “theater”

Thursday’s visit includes not only parts of Ciscomani’s district, but also that of Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva, who represents most of the southern Arizona border more than 350 miles in his district.

Grijalva Democratic Party Rankings on the House Natural Resources Committeehe said he had also planned Thursday’s visit to the port of entry in Douglas, Arizona, with border community mayors. . Over $3 billion improvement At several land ports of entry along the country’s northern and southern borders.

Regarding the Republican visit, Grijalva claims, “They’re not here to talk about solutions, they’re here to play.” While acknowledging that the border faces challenges and crises, he argues that these Republican efforts are useless.

“If people want to get serious about these debates, I think it works,” he told NPR. I anticipate that it will be