A group of Republican members of Congress, including newly elected U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), are headed to San Antonio Tuesday night to meet with local U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials.
The deeply conservative Johnson took over as speaker in October after Republicans struggled for weeks to rally around a replacement for ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who fell out favor with his party after working with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown.
Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tennessee) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) are also expected to attend Tuesday’s meeting, according to a press release from U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-San Antonio).
Though conservatives now control U.S. House leadership, Republicans remain deeply divided about the federal government’s approach to immigration and border security.
Johnson’s visit is being closely monitored by members of his own party— including the Texas Republican conference that supported his bid for speaker — for clues about how he might approach both issues, which would require action from Congress to address more fully than individual states have been able to so far.
Northwest San Antonio is home to a Border Patrol Station tasked with patrolling freight yards and interstate highways for weapons and people being smuggled into the U.S. illegally.
Officials from that station will participate in a dinner and operational briefing with Johnson and the group of roughly 60 House Republican lawmakers who are staying in San Antonio Tuesday night, according to a source familiar with the plans. Deputy Chief of U.S. Border Patrol Joel Martinez is expected to provide an update on the situation at the southern border and the Del Rio sector. The event is closed to the press.
On Wednesday, the group will head down to Eagle Pass for Johnson’s first trip as speaker to the U.S. Border with Mexico.
Gonzales, whose district includes the largest stretch of U.S.-Mexico border, will be among the Republicans pushing their visions for immigration reform with the speaker on the trip.
Gonzales is currently working with Senate Republicans on a border security package designed to draw support from both parties and both houses of Congress. The Senate is divided evenly between Republicans and Democrats, and 60 votes are required to avoid a filibuster, a political makeup that often stymies movement on the divisive issue.
Other Republicans want their conference to go much further, by withholding funding for other parts of the government until the issue is addressed. That approach was declined twice by the House under GOP leadership, leading up to McCarthy’s loss of the speakership. But it’s viewed by border hawks as their only leverage under a White House controlled by Democrats.
“I commend Speaker Johnson’s efforts to take a group of House Republicans to the Texas border tomorrow so that any members unaware of the depths of the threat to our citizenry may become fully informed,” U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, a proponent of that strategy, wrote in a letter Tuesday, explaining why he wouldn’t attend the visit. “For those of us who have already witnessed this crisis dozens of times, it’s past that time. It’s time to act with urgency.”
