Inglis to tour U.S.-Mexican border

(May 31, 2007)

U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC) leaves today for a two-day tour of the U.S.-Mexican border that is designed to give him a first-hand understanding of illegal crossings.

The trip will start with briefings from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents in Nogales, Ariz., one of the hottest spots for illegal crossings into the United States. In Arizona Inglis will tour the Nogales/DeConcini Port of Entry, take an aerial tour of the Arizona-Mexico border, and join nighttime operations with the border patrol. On Saturday, Inglis will be in San Diego, Calif., for briefings by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tunnel Task Force and for ground patrol operations at the Imperial Beach Station.

The tour comes as Inglis is conducting a series of town meetings on immigration. The first town meeting was in Spartanburg on Tuesday night, the second in Union on Wednesday night and the third will be in Greenville on Monday, June 4 at 7 p.m. at the Main Branch of the Greenville County Library.

Inglis, who’s never been to the U.S.-Mexican border, said that he hopes to gain an appreciation of the vastness of the border and an understanding of the operations being conducted there. “We’ve got to get control of our borders,” Inglis said. “That’s where a comprehensive immigration bill should start. We also need to require employers to verify Social Security numbers, develop a workable temporary worker program and enhance legal immigration.

“People are understandably frustrated with the federal government’s inability to get a handle on the situation,” Inglis continued. “It’s our job; we’ve got to fix the problem."