House Panel To Hear Firsthand Accounts Of Crime Along Mexican Border

Skewed reporting on crime along the U.S.-Mexico border will be the focus of a House Homeland Security Committee oversight hearing on Wednesday, according to the presiding lawmaker.

The hearing, entitled “On the Border and In the Line of Fire: U.S. Law Enforcement, Homeland Security and Cartel Violence,” is the second in a series of hearings initiated by Oversight subcommittee chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas.)

McCaul wants to hear from high-level federal, state and local law enforcement officials entrenched in dealing with the on-going violence along the U.S. southern border, caused by the powerful Mexican drug cartels.

An aide on the committee told The Hill that Wednesday’s hearing will discuss the discrepancies in official data on the actual rate of violence on the border. Kidnappings and other offenses do not factor into the equation that results in the figures seen by lawmakers.

“This administration is not giving the American people a complete picture of security on our border with Mexico. It is not 'better now than it has ever been' and the data on spillover crimes and violence is deceiving and underreported. Our state and local law enforcement on the front lines need help. Their firsthand accounts will tell the real story of how we are outmanned, overpowered and in danger of losing control of our own communities to narco-terrorists,” McCaul said.

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