Lawmakers take dueling trips to border amid concerns about migrant surge
CBSN
Republican Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn and Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro are leading dueling delegations of lawmakers to the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas on Friday, amid concerns over the surge of unaccompanied minors crossing the border.
Cruz said at a press conference on Wednesday that the purpose of the trip was to "see firsthand the crisis that is unfolding" on the border. Seventeen Republican senators are joining Cruz and Cornyn on a tour of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility in Donna, Texas. Cruz posted a late-night video to Twitter on Thursday apparently depicting the border, and he claimed that "human traffickers & cartel members" were "yelling at us across the Rio Grande and preparing to cross." Meanwhile, Castro is leading a group of six Democratic House members to a Health and Human Services facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas. In a tweet on Friday morning, Castro said that the purpose of his trip was to ensure that children housed in the facility are "treated humanely."Two climbers were waiting to be rescued near the peak of Denali, a colossal mountain that towers over miles of vast tundra in southern Alaska, officials said Wednesday. Originally part of a three-person team that became stranded near the top of the mountain, the climbers put out a distress call more than 30 hours earlier suggesting they were hypothermic and unable to descend on their own, according to the National Park Service.
There's no making up for what Olympic hurdler Lashinda Demus lost on the day she finished .07 seconds behind a Russian opponent who, everyone later learned, was doping. What the American 400-meter hurdles champion will finally receive is a great day under the Eiffel Tower where she'll be presented with the gold medal she was denied 12 years ago at the London Olympics.