House Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his representatives toured the Tucson area of Cochise County and parts of the Arizona-Mexico border on Thursday. This is McCarthy’s first visit to the border as a speaker.
McCarthy called on officials like Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorcas to visit the border and hear on-the-spot testimony on border security. McCarthy was attended by all freshman representatives, including Juan Ciscomani of Southern Arizona. He said the House’s new majority will offer new ideas and opportunities, such as hearings along the border.
“[Juan Ciscomani] He understands what immigration means and moved from Mexico when he was 11 in search of a better life,” McCarthy said. “These are new voices, new people. See who they are.”
Ciscomani became popular in the Republican Party after leading Spain’s rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. Most recently, he was the only freshman MP appointed to the Appropriations Committee, creating legislation to fund various government agencies, departments, and organizations.
He led the planning of the trip and emphasized that they were trying to better understand security issues.
“We are not talking about immigration reform here,” Ciscomani said. “We are talking about border security here. Those are two different issues that need to be addressed separately.”
Ciscomani went on to point out that fentanyl is a top priority as we look to the border, and that this is an issue that affects not just Arizona and border regions, but the entire country.
Republican congressmen Lori Chavez Delemar of Oregon, Jen Kigans of Virginia, and Derrick Van Oden of Wisconsin also attended. They shared concerns about the growing fentanyl problem in the district.
“Every city is now a border city because that’s where fentanyl comes from,” McCarthy said.
However, there is controversy over how fentanyl crosses borders.
At a press conference, McCarthy said the Tucson sector rose to the third-highest ranking at the border crossing. Just two months into the new year, Tucson ranked fifth, and last year he ranked fourth, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
