Kevin McCarthy: Texas Guardsman Risked His Life for Someone He Did Not Know

EAGLE PASS, Texas — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) praised Texas National Guard Specialist Bishop E. Evans as a man who “risked his own life for a person he did not know because he could not watch that person drown.” McCarthy’s comments came at the conclusion of a border tour with a group of Republican representatives.

“Your grandson did not die in vain,” McCarthy said to SPC Bishop’s grandmother who raised the young guardsman. “He was a National Guard Specialist. He was a human being. He risked his own life for a person he did not know because he could not watch that person drown.”

McCarthy toured the current epicenter of the border crisis — Eagle Pass, Texas — on the day Border Patrol agents found the body of SPC Bishop who went missing on Friday morning after jumping into the Rio Grande to save two drowning migrants, Breitbart Texas reported. The search continued throughout the weekend — only stopping when currents became too strong for dive teams.

On Saturday, Texas Military Department officials reported that the investigation into the disappearance revealed that the two migrants were involved in  “illicit transnational narcotics trafficking.”

Representative Tony Gonzales (R-TX), whose district includes the Eagle Pass area, joined McCarthy in praising the brave soldier who gave his life that another might live.

“Today is about Eagle Pass. It’s about those who live here, it’s about those that serve here, it’s about those who work here. It’s about Bishop Evans who was found today. It’s about his family, and it’s about all the families that have been impacted.”

The congressman said the open border policies are leading to deaths.

“The chaos that has been caused on this border impacts absolutely everybody,” Gonzales continued. “And it is deadly — You’re seeing that. It’s killing National Guardsmen, it’s killing migrants. It’s killing everything, everything it touches.”

Leader McCarthy went on to talk about the border tour they received. He praised Border Patrol agents for the work they do.

“They are pushed to the limits,” the California Republican said. “I cannot thank them enough for the job they do.”

He quoted former Obama Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson who said 7,000 migrants crossings per day was an unsustainable number. He added, “That is where we are.”

“Thirty days from now, President Biden wants to lift Title 42,” the minority leader continued. “Everyone will tell you that number will more than double — to 18,000.”

“If it’s unsustainable today, what will it look like a month from now,” McCarthy asked. He said that President Biden has held government office for more than 40 years. “The only known time that he’s been to the border is one time when he drove through San Antonio.”

“Before he makes this decision (to end Title 42), he should come here,” he stated. “He should look the border agents in the eye and ask them ‘What’s the best decision to make.'”

GOP Conference Chair, Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY), also joined McCarthy in Eagle Pass on Monday.

“Make no mistake, this is not just a crisis in South Texas,” the congresswoman, who represents Border Patrol agents who work along the northern border, told reporters. “This is a United States of America crisis and it’s a crisis as a result of Joe Biden’s and House Democrats failed policies. This has gotten worse and worse every month. … And we know it’s only going to get significantly worse with Joe Biden’s decision to lift Title 42.”

Congressman Chip Roy (R-TX) added, “Throughout my entire life in public service, I’ve heard many of my Democratic colleagues claim the mantle of compassion. There is nothing compassionate about this, nothing.”

“Last Friday, a teenage girl who had been raped, prostituted, put into the sex-trafficking trade, served as the basis for the arrest of a Mexican national who had been deported 15 times,” Roy stated. “That happened in San Antonio, Texas. That’s a real life — a real human being.”

“There are stash houses within miles of here,” he continued. “Stash houses in San Antonio. Human beings being trafficked for profit and it takes a lot of effort to get the media to come down here and focus on this.”

“Title 42 is like a band-aid on a gunshot wound,” the San Antonio representative added. “It’s important, but it represents the ability to turn people away and actually secure the border. But we’ve got to actually do the hard work of having a sovereign nation with secure borders so that migrants don’t get killed.”

“There are 700 to 1,000 [migrants] that are in body trailers that local officials have to go rent to put bodies in,” Roy explained. “The ranchers who find dead bodies on their property, the bodies we find on the river on a daily basis — that Border Patrol has to go find in the river. That’s my ask of you, in the press, ask every single member of the House of Representatives on the other side of the aisle why they won’t a discharge petition to move Title 42, but, more importantly, stand up for a secure border.”

“That’s what this is about,” he concluded. “It’s about the humanity, it’s about the people dying from fentanyl poisoning, it’s about the people being put in the sex-trafficking trade, it’s about the ranchers, it’s about the people throughout this country getting harmed because this administration led by the president and Secretary Mayorkas — they won’t do their job. They leave the job to the governor and Texas DPS and our National Guard in Texas.”

Other members of Congress who participated in the border tour include Congressman Randy Weber (TX-14) Congressman Michael Guest (MS-03) Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14) Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger (TN-01), and Congressman Blake Moore (UT-01).