PHOTOS: Kelly Returns to Arizona-Mexico Border to Discuss Title 42 with Local Leaders and Law Enforcement

In keeping with his focus on ensuring a secure and orderly border response, today, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly returned to the Arizona-Mexico border, his sixth visit since taking office, where he met with Yuma area leaders and law enforcement officials about the border crisis affecting their communities and discussed how they can continue working to ensure a secure, orderly, and humane border response. 

While in Yuma, Kelly met with Border Patrol personnel and received an operational briefing on the sector’s contingency plans for managing the border and needs ahead of the administration’s pending recession of Title 42. Kelly then held a roundtable conversation focused on Title 42 with Yuma area leaders ranging from police chiefs, mayors, county supervisors, a county sheriff, non-governmental organization representatives, emergency responders, hospital officials, and senior leadership from Border Patrol, CBP Office of Field Operations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Southwest Border Coordination Center. Afterward, Kelly and several roundtable attendees held a press conference.

Kelly continued his focus on border security with a visit to the Morelos Dam gap, a notorious border fence gap that has presented unique border security challenges for BP personnel who are encountering large groups of migrants. Kelly has urged the Biden administration to close this gap and find solutions that include advanced technology, additional staffing, upgrading ports of entry, and fencing and barriers where they make sense and are effective.  

Since taking office, Kelly has continued to push the Biden administration for a plan to deal with the border crisis. Recently, Kelly and a bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation to require the administration to have a comprehensive plan in place before lifting Title 42. Kelly previously introduced bipartisan legislation that would require DHS to have a place to handle surges at the border and provide funding to carry out that plan. Earlier this year, Kelly and Sinema secured critical federal funding to help Arizona manage the current migrant crisis, improve border security, and keep Arizona communities safe, including additional funds for community organizations helping manage the border.