Republican Lawmakers Support Operation Linebacker

KFOXTV.com

June 2, 2006 — Six members of Congress spent time on El Paso’s border a critical visit, they say, pending immigration reform.

Arriving in white vans for a brief stop to talk to Border Patrol the Congressmen viewed the border up close. Some had never been here.

“I think seeing the border for the first time, really gives you the sense of the enormity of the situation,” said U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor R-VA.

“People far from the border don’t realize the huge traffic, the legitimate traffic that goes back and forth and how it is hard to separate the illegitimate traffic out,” said U.S. Rep. Don Sherwood, R-PA.

El Paso Sheriff Leo Sameniego helped escort the group. And despite criticism surrounding Operation Linebacker and the driver’s license checkpoints, where residents said deputies are allegedly asking for proof of citizenship, most who visited today agreed with the sheriff’s involvement.

“When we met with the sheriff’s, they said these were traffic violations, these were routine traffic violations and that when they do pull them over, they find drugs in the car, they find illegals in the car,” said U.S. Rep. Mike McCaul R-TX.

“And what we found out today was the need for resources for the local sheriff’s department and how they are running their Operation Linebacker, and they are so successfully backstopping the Border Patrol,” Sherwood said

And that is why the Sheriff plans to continue the traffic stops and Operation Linebacker, despite criticism.

“I would argue that some of the problems the sheriff is having here locally has to do with local politics,” said U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-TX.