By Joel Langton
The 830 Times
Congressman Tony Gonzales brought 13 fellow Republican house members to Del Rio for updates on the border situation.
Gonzales, who represents Texas’s 23rd District that includes Del Rio, said Friday’s delegation was one of the largest to visit his district during his nearly 18 months in office.
Members on the trip, besides Gonzales, were Cliff Bentz from Oregon’s 2nd District, Ken Calvert from California’s 42nd District, John Curtis from Utah’s 3rd District, Andrew Garbarino from New York’s 2nd District, Carlos Gimenez from Florida’s 26th District, Bill Huizenga from Florida’s 26th District, Chris Jacobs from New York’s 27th District, Young Kim from California’s 39th District, Peter Meijer from Michigan’s 3rd District, Carol Miller from West Virginia’s 3rd District, Marionette Miller-Meeks from Iowa’s 2nd District, John Rutherford from Florida’s 4th District and David Valadao from California’s 21st District.
The visit included time with Border Patrol leaders, a stop at the Port of Entry, visited a ranch for a demonstration of technology Border Patrol is using to curb the flow of illegal immigrants and then lunch with leaders from throughout the region.
The catered lunch was held at the Del Rio Chamber of Commerce’s conference room and included Joe Frank Martinez, Val Verde County Sheriff; Russell and Jason Stidham, owners of Sentry Security; Dr. Jaime “JJ” Gutierrez, Val Verde County Local Health Authority, family practice physician and owner of South Texas Urgent Care Center; April Ancira, part owner of Ancira Auto Group; John Weston, CEO of Frontera Construction; David Winters, rancher and owner of David Winters Livestock; Sam Sorrell, owner of Sorrell Customs and Logistics; Hector Cerna, President and CEO of IBC Bank of Eagle Pass; Larry Martin, Senior Vice President of IBC Bank of Eagle Pass and Michael Gibbs, general counsel of Whataburger.
The hour-long lunch had local community and business leaders peppered with questions from the representatives. The 830 Times and Washington Post were able to sit in on the session.
“We want a free flow of ideas, whatever you want to talk about,” Gonzales told the gathered congressional members and regional leaders. “The goal for me is to expose the members to more of what is going on on the border than just security.”
Gibbs took the initial questions, as one of the members asked him about the employment rate in Texas and he said it was “extremely” low and Whataburger had a difficult time finding workers.
“It’s not only in our restaurants, but in our supply chain,” Gibbs said. “Last year, we had a difficult time getting chicken because our supplier couldn’t find people to debone the chicken.”
Gonzales joked with Gibbs that he was concerned about a price increase on the chain’s hamburgers.
“We took our largest price increase in history in December and we are going to take another one in April,” Gibbs said.
Martinez later took the floor and updated the members on impacts on his office trying to maintain security on the 3,200-square miles that make up Val Verde County.
“Our federal partners are doing a heck of a job with the resources they have,” he said.
However, he said some of the data the legislators receive isn’t accurate.
“A lot of times when a rancher finds that something was broken into, they know it was broken into by an immigrant but it is never reported to us. It’s just seen as a part of life and they clean up the mess and move on.”
Martinez said that the break-in will never show up on a report.
The sheriff said thanks to federal Stone Garden funds, designed to help local sheriffs’ offices secure the border, his deputies are working 30 hours of overtime per week.
“But it’s the same 15 to 20 deputies working those hours,” he said. “It’s the same boots on the ground and they get tired out.”
Each leader in the room shared similar anecdotes about how they are being impacted by the border crisis as well as banking, vehicle sales and numerous other local challenges.
Afterwards, the representatives shared their perspective of the visit with national and international media members. Wrapping up the 23-minute press conference, Gonzales said these were the 54th members of Congress he’d brought to the district during his nearly 18 months in office to learn about the border.
“It’s important if you’re going to legislate, you see the border, you understand the border not just the security piece but all aspects of it,” he said. “The Republican conference is committed to finding solutions and I will host anyone that wants to come down.”
The trip was sponsored by the Republican Main Street Partnership. According to the organization’s website, the RMSP, “encompasses a broad alliance of centrist Republicans, including more than 60 sitting members in Congress. We are dedicated to working across the aisle to enact common-sense legislation on issues such as healthcare, family issues, workforce development, the environment (including clean water), and transportation/infrastructure.”
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Contact the author at joelalangton@gmail.com
