Vasquez Slams Hegseth: “Skip the Photo Ops” and “Do Some Homework” on Real Border Solutions for New Mexico

In a House Armed Services Committee hearing last week, Congressman Gabe Vasquez exposed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s ignorance about conditions along New Mexico’s border region.

Vasquez told security threat Hegseth to “skip the photo ops” and “do some homework” on immigration solutions that will actually address the needs of New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District.

Border security is a top priority for Vasquez, who has introduced several pieces of bipartisan legislation to crack down on fentanyl at the border, strengthen security at New Mexico’s ports of entry, hire more Customs and Border Protection personnel, and take on violent cartels threatening public safety in border communities.

WATCH

Read more on Vasquez and Hegseth’s exchange: 

• VASQUEZ: DOD has spent more than $525 million from the defense budget on military operations on the border. You’ve done it by diverting over $1 billion for military modernization and quality of life programs like housing.
  Secretary Hegseth, do you know how many border miles there are in Mexico?
• HEGSETH: Not the exact number.
  
• VASQUEZ: Can you tell me where the border wall starts and ends on this map of New Mexico
  HEGSETH: [I’m] not properly oriented to your map.
  
• VASQUEZ: You should know then why it’s almost physically impossible to build a border across [the] Animas Mountains and the terrain challenges that that poses and the billions of dollars… do you know if there’s roads on those mountains?
  So you agree then that a border wall doesn’t make sense for the entire country?
• HEGSETH: I think we need a border wall across our entire border.
  
• VASQUEZ: Are you familiar with ASTs?
  HEGSETH: No, what’s an AST?
  
• VASQUEZ: If this is so important to the military, then you, as Secretary of [the] Department of Defense, should know more about the border. Mr. Secretary, I urge you to skip the photo ops next time that you go to a port of entry and spend time on the ground.
  …I have serious concerns with your fundamental lack of knowledge about the U.S. Mexico border, considering the billions of dollars that DOD is slated to spend on this mission with little clarity to those of us who live there.
• I would encourage you to do some homework on my region and learn what will actually make our border more secure and more safe.

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