Members of Congress tour squalid 'third world' colonia settlements near the southern border

Members of Congress Friday heard from residents of poor communities in southern Texas called colonias, which often don't have running water or sewage.

Tyler Olson covers politics for Fox News Digital. You can contact him at tyler.olson@fox.com and follow him on Twitter at @TylerOlson1791.

At the Indian Hills colonia settlement and others like it, residents live in extreme poverty in homes that often resemble little more than shacks. Built in rural areas near the Mexican border with little regulation, most colonias lack running water, sewage treatment, broadband and other key infrastructure.

"We have American citizens living in third world conditions in this country," Gonzalez told Fox News Digital. "And while we've spent trillions of dollars on infrastructure and in this country, we need to assure that they're not left behind and that we uplift their standard to the rest of the world, the rest of the country."