Washington, D.C.—U.S. Congressman Steve King (IA-05) released the following statement following the second House immigration field hearing, held yesterday by the International Relations Subcommittee on Terrorism in Laredo, Texas: 

“It is crucial for Americans and Congress to hear this testimony by witnesses who deal with the border situation everyday. 

“The witnesses, who are border sheriffs, spoke about the difficulties they have enforcing the border, and the numbers of people that are pouring across the border here illegally are increasing, as is crime. The crime across the river is intense, and a sheriff testified the murders and the kidnappings that are taking place there have been increasing month-by-month.

“But the focus of the hearing was on terrorism.  ‘[A]t any given time, daytime or nighttime, one can get on a boat and traverse back and forth between Texas and Mexico and not get caught,’ testified Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzales, Jr. of Zapata County. ‘If smugglers can bring tons of marijuana and cocaine at one time, and can smuggle 20-30 persons at one time, one can just imagine how easy it would be to bring in 2-3 terrorists or their weapons of mass destruction across the river and not be detected.  Chances of apprehension are very slim,’ concluded Gonzales.

“The witnesses also spoke about their experiences with the Mexican military insurgents who have come into the United States. We learned there is no question there is some support on the other side of the river by the Mexican military.

“This field hearing was focused on the people pouring across that are not Mexicans, and that number is increasing dramatically. In these sectors, that number is well over fifty percent of the number of people that are picked up. The number of illegal drugs that are being shipped into the United States is also growing incrementally, and the strength of the gangs, particularly the MS-13 gang, is getting more and more powerful.

 “It was in interesting mix of people that came from around the border to attend the hearing, and it was crucial for the Members of Congress to get a sense of the culture and the intensity of the problems that they have.”

 The U.S. House is bringing the immigration reform debate out of Washington and to the American people through a series of immigration reform field hearings held across the country. King serves on the House Immigration Subcommittee and the Immigration Reform Caucus.