Congressman Denver Riggleman Talks ‘Infrastructure, Personnel, Technology’ At US-Mexico Border

Google map of the southern border between El Paso and New Mexico (Google Maps) and an image of Congressman Denver Riggleman at the border. (Media Release/Denver Riggleman)

Congressman Denver Riggleman (R-Va. 5th District) talked about the ongoing border crisis in a Facebook live address on July 30 while visiting the United States-Mexico border.

“We need more barriers, we need more ways to protect our law enforcement, also American citizens, and also the immigrants crossing,” said Riggleman in the 53-second video live-streamed from the El Paso and New Mexico area.

The Congressman said that the border wall consists of various kinds of barriers. He pointed at the “small fence” where he was standing and said he can “actually leap this in one single bound.”

Riggleman said that “overwhelming” 116,000 immigrants had crossed through the 11.4 miles of border stretch in the region he visited.

He pointed at the need of improving the barrier on three things: “Infrastructure, Personnel, and Technology.”

“You can see why many parts of the border are not well-defended. This is what our job is, it’s responsibility to the American people. It’s an amazing time here, an amazing education,” said Riggleman.

The Congressman explained the same in a press release on his website. “The thing that we are learning out here is not only the delineation of responsibilities but that there is room for improvement on our border wall and securities.  There are three priorities that we need to address,” said Riggleman.

He later shared the video on his Twitter. “I did a Facebook live earlier, you probably watched. About 200 yards that way saw a fence that you could probably just walk over,” he said.

Pointing at a fence that consisted of thick cement poles fixed with large gaps into a concrete plinth, Riggleman said: “This is actually the new barrier that it transitions to. You can see that you can just walk through.”

The Congressman shared more updates on his Twitter and Facebook pages. On Tuesday, he shared a video shot at night at the border and said he watched as border patrol apprehended four individuals from Brazil and Cuba.

“Make sure we help these individuals out. What they are doing out here is really (the) hero’s work!” the Congressman said about border patrol, CBP and ICE.

Riggleman, who is traveling with a Congressional Delegation to observe operations and conditions at the southern border, appreciated law enforcement in various other messages on social media.

“Local law enforcement is utilizing advanced technologies and creative ideas to stop human smugglers and drug mules. They are a model of what Americans can do,” he said on Twitter.

The Congressman visited a border patrol station and an ICE facility and shared on Twitter a picture of him carrying a bag of drugs confiscated at the border.

“CBP, border patrol, and local law enforcement have real challenges. In the below picture I am carrying a pack of drugs from a smuggler that was confiscated on our unprotected border between points of entry,” he wrote.

The Congressman visited the Rio Grande riverbed along with the border patrol agents on Monday. “You can see Mexican border guards along the border that have started reducing the immigration flow thanks to POTUS’s negotiations. These policies also protect our CBP,” he wrote in another Twitter update.