Kevin McCarthy, the speaker of U.S. House of Representatives, will travel to the Arizona border Thursday.

It will be McCarthy's first visit to the U.S.-Mexico border since his election as speaker last month, ushering a new era of divided government after the new Republican majority officially took control of the lower chamber of Congress.

McCarthy, R-Calif., will visit Cochise County and meet with border agents, as well as local law enforcement and residents, according to C.J. Karamargin, the district director for Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., whose district covers Cochise County.

"The key point here is for the speaker and other members of Congress to get a firsthand assessment of the situation on the border and its impact on local communities," Karamargin said.

Ciscomani is the freshman House member from southern Arizona who delivered the Spanish-language response to President Joe Biden's State of the Union speech last week. In addition, three other Republican freshman lawmakers will join McCarthy on the visit. They are Reps. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (Oregon), Jen Kiggans (Virginia) and Derrick Van Orden (Wisconsin).

The visit will include a briefing with agents from the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson sector, which covers most of Arizona's border with Mexico, as well as an aerial tour of the border in Cochise County, according to Karamargin.

Conditions along the U.S.-Mexico border, where thousands of asylum-seeking migrants have turned up in record numbers over much of the past year, continues to be political fodder, particularly for Republicans.

They have criticized the Biden's administration handling of the border, especially the federal government's authority to parole a large number of migrants into the country, as well as ongoing concerns about fentanyl smuggling.

Since taking control of the House, Republicans have elevated issues around border security. Two House committees held hearings last week on the situation along the U.S.-Mexico border. They featured testimony from John Modlin, chief patrol agent for the Tucson sector, as well as Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels.

Even before being sworn in, numerous lawmakers had also vowed to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, claiming he has ceded control of the border to human and drug smugglers. But to date, no serious efforts to remove him have advanced in the House.

Have any news tips or story ideas about immigration in the Southwest? Reach the reporter at rafael.carranza@arizonarepublic.com, or follow him on Twitter at @RafaelCarranza.

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