Dem Leader Jeffries, Cuellar head to the southern border a day after McCarthy visit

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House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is heading to the besieged U.S. southern border where he will meet with law enforcement and take an aerial tour of the border in Texas – a day after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy visits the border in Arizona.

Jeffries will visit the border in Laredo, Texas along with Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas. 

Cuellar and Jeffries will get a briefing from local authorities on smuggling, before taking an aerial tour of the border and meeting with border sheriffs and local mayors. 

According to a press release, the tour will examine "various aspects of homeland security and border operations."

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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Thursday, Feb. 2. (AP/Jose Luis Magana)

There will also be a press conference outside Laredo’s World Trade Bridge administrative building. The bridge is the busiest land port of entry into the U.S. 25 trains a day cross there. 17,000 trailers daily.

"It’s important that members visit the border and try to get an objective understanding of the border," Cuellar told Fox News on Thursday.

The visit comes as the U.S. continues to grapple with an enormous migrant crisis at the southern border now into its third year. There were more than 156,000 migrant encounters at the southern border in January. While that was the highest on record for January, administration officials have pointed to the fact that it was drastically lower than the record 251,000 encountered in December -- and have attributed that to new border measures introduced in January.

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Republicans have hammered Democrats and the administration for the crisis, putting the blame on what they say are "open border" policies. The administration has been pushing back, saying the onus is on Congress to fix a broken immigration system that is in need of funding and reform. Republicans have in turn rejected that push due to the inclusion of a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants already in the U.S.

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"America’s border problems won’t be fixed until Congress acts. If you won’t pass my comprehensive immigration reform, at least pass my plan to provide the equipment and officers to secure the border. And a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, those on temporary status, farm workers, and essential workers," President Biden said at the State of the Union last week.

The Democrats’ visit comes a day after Speaker Kevin McCarthy is visiting the border with four Republican freshman members. That group will receive a briefing at the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Tucson Sector headquarters before also getting an aerial tour of the border.

Republicans have already begun holding committee hearings over the crisis, and have also promised to hold in-person hearings at the border itself.