De La Cruz: House Speaker to visit border, campaign for South Texas congresswoman

McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — Freshman U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz says House Speaker Mike Johnson is scheduled to visit McAllen on Monday for a sit-down on the border, and to help with her Republican re-election campaign to represent this South Texas district, Border Report has learned.

“Right now we have the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson coming down to McAllen, Texas. We’re going to sit and talk about the border being, obviously, the number one issue on Americans mind. But that evening, he is going to hold an event to support me and my efforts for the 2024 election,” De La Cruz told Border Report.

De La Cruz cautioned that events and votes scheduled for this weekend in Congress could bump his schedule.

She also said they were still planning out the details and would not comment if this was a roundtable with border leaders, or a private sit down, or a border tour.

“We’re still organizing that right now. As you know things have quickly changed in D.C. so we’re organizing those details,” she said.

De La Cruz is a first-term congresswoman who is facing a challenge from Democratic business entrepreneur Michelle Vallejo in November.

Border Report has reached out to Johnson’s office for comment and this story will be updated if information is received.

Johnson was in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Jan. 3 and toured the border with 60 GOP House and saw a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility. He called the visit an “eye opener.”

At the time, the group vowed not to support financial aid for Ukraine or Israel unless the Biden administration enact tougher immigration policies.

“One thing is absolutely clear: America is at a breaking point with record levels of illegal immigration,” he said in January. “We got a first-hand look at the damage and the chaos the border catastrophe is causing in all of our communities.”

CBP reports that migrant encounters along the Southwest border were down in March to 137,480, down 2.3% from February. That’s one of the lowest monthly reportings of Joe Biden’s presidency after a record high of nearly 250,000 border encounters in December 2023. 

On Wednesday, House Republicans introduced a new border security measure that is designed to bend to conservatives who are critical of a recent foreign aid package that excluded border security provisions.

The House could vote on the new border bill this weekend.

Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.