House Democrats to head to U.S.-Mexico border in California to scrutinize Trump security policies

A delegation of House Democratic lawmakers will visit a portion of the southern border on Friday to conduct oversight of the Trump administration’s border policies “firsthand” as authorities continue the president’s mass deportation program. 

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-MS., the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, will lead the delegation. 

Also going will be Reps. Lou Correa and Sara Jacobs, both of California; Delia Ramirez of Illinois; LaMonica McIver and Nellie Pou, both of New Jersey; and Tim Kennedy of New York.

TRUMP ADMIN ENDS DEPORTATION PROTECTIONS FOR MASSIVE NUMBER OF VENEZUELANS AMID ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN

A group of adult and child migrants are smuggled at the Tijuana-San Diego border. (Carlos Moreno/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital has reached out to Thompson’s office. The lawmakers will visit the U.S. Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector. 

San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond, who has called for greater border security in the past, criticized the timing of the visit. 

“They should have been visiting when we had the southern invasion across our border and thousands of people coming across and there wasn’t as much attention then,” Desmond told Fox News Digital. “But I’m glad they’re here now.

“It does seem like ‘Where were you when we had so many people who were coming across before?” he added. “But I’m glad they’re here now.”

Rep Mark Green, R-Tenn., blasted Democrats for now wanting to visit the southern border following years of denying a crisis as record numbers of illegal migrants flowed into the U.S. 

“The American people will not forget how congressional Democrats turned a blind eye as their own party created the worst border crisis in U.S. history,” Green said in a statement. “When the Committee held a field hearing in 2023 in Pharr, Texas, no Democrat members attended. My counterpart, Mr. Thompson, even repeatedly called hearings about the border crisis a waste of time.”

“While the visit tomorrow comes years too late, I am grateful Democrats will be drawing attention to the law and order that the Trump administration has and will continue to restore,” he added. “They will have the opportunity to witness the rising morale of our CBP personnel, who now have the needed support to do their jobs. It clearly was this easy to end the crisis––Democrats just didn’t want to.” 

TRUMP REPORTS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ENCOUNTERS AT HISTORIC LOWS DURING FIRST FULL MONTH IN OFFICE

Chairman Rep. Bernie Thompson (D-MS) speaks before the House Select Committee. (Getty Images)

The Trump administration has deported more than 100,000 illegal migrants in the weeks since Trump returned to the White House on Jan. 20, according to a New York Post report citing a Department of Homeland Security official.

“He’s doing what he was voted in to do. Point blank!” a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) source told the outlet.

A Marine looks towards Tijuana, Mexico, standing between two border walls in San Diego. A group of House Democrats will visit the border in San Diego on Friday.  (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Trump’s second term, much like his first, has consisted of executive orders, enforcing current laws and hard-line messaging to clamp down on illegal crossings. On his first day back in office, he declared a national emergency at the southern border.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.