I made a commitment to work with anyone to actually address the ongoing border and immigration crisis – and I’m keeping my promise by bringing my colleagues to the border. Last week, Republican Senator James Lankford and I visited Arizona’s border to identify lasting solutions to the security and humanitarian crisis. 

Through a series of roundtables with U.S. Border Patrol, non-profits, Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Enforcement and Removal Operations, CBP’s Office of Field Operations, and other local leaders, we discussed the impacts of the border crisis on Arizona border communities who’ve been left to manage migrant releases on their own following the end of Title 42.

We also visited the DeConcini Port of Entry – the only Land Port of Entry in Arizona accepting CBPOne App appointments – and toured one of the busiest Border Patrol sectors of the U.S.-Mexico border for both migrant encounters and drug smuggling to examine processing procedures.

Our trips to the border show my colleagues from other states what border communities and local leaders in Arizona see every day. We’re taking what we learned back to our colleagues in Washington, continuing to work side-by-side with Arizonans, and finding lasting solutions that secure the border, protect Arizona families and communities, and ensure migrants are treated fairly and humanely.