By Corey Stott, KUDV, Bloomfield. Additional reporting by Iowa Public Radio, O. Kay Henderson
The six Republicans who represent Iowa in the U.S. House and Senate are calling on the Biden administration to reopen rail crossings in Texas.
The U.S. Border Patrol suspended rail operations in Eagle Pass and El Paso on Monday to shift agents to process migrants crossing the border.
Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District Rep. Zach Nunn says those two rail crossings are critical to getting Iowa grain and agricultural exports to Mexico.
“That’s a third of all ag exports coming out of the country to Mexico, our No. 1 trading partner,” he said. “So at the same time we have a dumpster fire on immigration, now we’ve poured gasoline on it by saying we’re not going to allow Iowa corn to leave the country, but we’re going to allow unfettered access to illegal immigrants coming into the country.”
Iowa’s congressional delegation sent a letter to Biden and the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security on Wednesday, calling the situation at the southern border “grave.”
Nunn says the administration’s failure to secure the border is making things tougher for law enforcement in Iowa.
“There is no strategy for curbing the amount of crime coming across the border,” Nunn said. “With the border incursion comes crime, comes fentanyl, comes human trafficking.”
Nunn made his comments during a meeting with local officers at the Davis County Law Enforcement Center in Bloomfield on Wednesday.
Facebook Comments
