House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., brought a group of Republican lawmakers to the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday for the first time since the party took power in the lower chamber earlier this year.

What You Need To Know

  • House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., led a delegation of freshman Republican lawmakers to the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona on Thursday

  • The group will receive a briefing and aerial tour in the Tucson Sector, one of the busiest in the country in terms of both marijuana seizures and illegal alien apprehensions, from U.S. Customs and Border Protection

  • McCarthy, a staunch critic of the Biden administration’s immigration and border policies, made border security a central theme of his midterm campaign last year, which saw Republicans narrowly recapture the House majority

  • The visit comes as border crossings hit their lowest point in two years in January, with agents encountering 40% fewer people trying to get into the United States

  • In a statement to multiple media outlets, the Biden administration slammed McCarthy’s border visit as a stunt

McCarthy, a staunch critic of the Biden administration’s immigration and border policies, traveled to Arizona with a cadre of first-term Republican lawmakers — Reps. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., Derrick Van Orden, R-Wisc., Jen Kiggans, R-Va., and Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz.

The group received a briefing and aerial tour in the Tucson Sector — an area of 262 border miles which covers most of Arizona from the New Mexico State line to the Yuma County line —  from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, McCarthy’s office announced. According to CBP, the sector is one of the busiest in the country in terms of both marijuana seizures and illegal alien apprehensions, with 3,700 agents working across nine stations.

McCarthy made border security a central theme of his midterm campaign last year, which saw Republicans narrowly recapture the House majority, frequently railing against the Biden administration’s policies and calling for the resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. 

In November, McCarthy alleged that Mayorkas’ actions “produced the greatest wave of illegal immigration in recorded history.”

“Our country may never recover from Secretary Mayorkas’ dereliction of duty. This is why today I am calling on the secretary to resign,” he said. “If Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate every order, every action and every failure, and we will determine whether we can begin an impeachment inquiry.”

McCarthy’s visit comes as border crossings hit their lowest point in two years in January, with agents encountering 40% fewer people trying to get into the United States.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded more than 128,000 crossings in January, down from more than 221,000 in December.

At the beginning of the year, President Joe Biden announced a new policy for people from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti and Cuba – the four populations that in recent months have traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border most often. People from those countries could apply to migrate through a new temporary program, but they could be blocked from the program and expelled to Mexico if they instead try to cross the border.

Later in January, border officials began implementing a smartphone app for people to claim asylum, making it the only way to ask for an exception from pandemic restrictions still in place at the border called Title 42. Thousands of asylum-seekers have been turned away under the policy.

The threat of being expelled or blocked from other migration pathways led to the lowest number of attempted crossings since President Biden’s first full year in office.

“The January monthly operational update clearly illustrates that new border enforcement measures are working,” said Troy Miller, acting CBP commissioner, in a statement.

In a statement to multiple media outlets, the Biden administration slammed McCarthy’s border visit as a stunt.

“Since President Biden took action to implement new border enforcement and immigration measures last month, illegal border crossings are down to their lowest levels in years,” said White House spokesperson Ian Sams. “Why won’t they support President Biden’s plan to fund border security now?”

“House Republicans should spend less time on partisan publicity stunts and more time working on solutions,” Sams added. “Solutions are what President Biden is focused on, and his is plan working. House Republicans would be wise to join him to work together to strengthen our immigration system and fund border security.”

Immigration and border security — and specifically, the border between Mexico and the United States —  remain the sticking points between Republicans and Democrats in ongoing negotiations on the twice-per-decade Farm Bill, a package of agriculture legislation.

McCarthy told reporters Tuesday at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, California, that Republicans are not prepared to address complaints by some farmers about a migrant and foreign worker shortage. 

Late last year, during the post-election “lame duck” session, Congress was unable to pass the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021, sponsored by by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., who represents much of the “Salad Bowl” of America — communities that produce a majority of the nation’s lettuce crop. That bill would have granted “certified agricultural worker” status to foreign workers who performed at least 1,035 hours of agricultural labor between March 2019 and March 2021. Those workers would later be able to apply for lawful permanent resident status.

“The first thing that has to be done is secure the border before we have any immigration reform,” McCarthy told reporters. “Once we’re able to secure it, I think we’ll move forward with immigration.”

Spectrum News' Austin Landis, Cassie Semyon and David Mendez contributed to this report.