Cartel members were taunting us, says Susan Collins on US-Mexico border visit

Susan Collins said Mexican cartel members were “taunting” a group of GOP senators who visited the southern border wall.

The visit by several members of Congress to the US-Mexico border on Thursday follows the recent arrival of thousands of unaccompanied minors and others – stretching federal resources.

Ms Collins said she spent the night shift with US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and toured the Rio Grande, an infamous crossing point for migrants, when cartel members taunted the group.

“We could hear the cartel members taunting us across the river. Human trafficking, child abuse, and drug smuggling are rampant,” the senator from Maine wrote on Twitter of those suspected of organising the crossings. “This is a crisis.”

She continued by saying: “Mexican cartels control who crosses the border,” and that she spoke to “a young mother from Guatemala” who “paid smugglers $6,000” to cross from Mexico to the US.

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President Joe Biden defended his administration’s response during his first press conference on Thursday, and said border crossings surge “every single solitary year” in the spring.

The Democrat also deflected any suggestion that migrants were coming because he was seen as being “a nice guy”, and said CBP were turning away both families and adults from the border.

Anecdotes from migrants at the border suggest they see the US as being friendly post-Trump, while the number of children arriving last month was 61 per cent more than in February 2020. In 2019, the rise was 28 per cent.

CBP officers, who Ms Collins claimed were “overwhelmed, overworked, & discouraged by new policies”, have so far detained over 11,000 minors since February, according to analysis by CNN.

Overflow facilities have also been opened up to provide shelter for minors stranded at the border, with Mr Biden saying the conditions were unacceptable for some awaiting shelter.

Thousands are said to have been held for more than the 72 hours permitted by federal law, before being relocated to shelter, in part thanks to the number of arrivals, and issues around capacity at border facilities.

Ms Collins and other members of the GOP are expected to continue pressuring the US president over the border for weeks, as the the numbers of those arriving continue to rise.

Among the 18 senators who also visited CBP facilities on Thursday night were Texas senator Ted Cruz, who was ridiculed for live streaming the tour to the Rio Grande.

Mr Biden meanwhile, said he would visit the border himself soon, but did not provide more details.