U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono is leading a bipartisan trip to border facilities in Texas today and tomorrow.

The group, which includes Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske, will visit facilities in McAllen and Lackland Air Force Base.

As the Anchorage Daily News reports, “The federal government is grappling with an influx of 57,000 migrant children from Central America. President Barack Obama has asked Congress for $3.7 billion to help combat the crisis.”

Hirono, the only immigrant in the Senate, shared stories on the Senate floor Wednesday of the danger children are fleeing in their home countries.

U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono.

Courtesy

Excerpts:

I rise today to speak about the ongoing humanitarian crisis on our Southern Border. As a woman and an immigrant, my heart breaks for these children.

My mother fled Japan out of desperation to escape a terrible marriage. I came with her to this country as a young girl and I remember how uncertain I was about what was in store for us.

Although we rode a ship in steerage, at least we traveled safely and together. We did not face the same kind of danger as these children, who are risking everything to be here.

Their journeys to our border are lined with smugglers and traffickers. Children are arriving injured and malnourished.

Yet they continue to come, not just to the U.S. but to other nearby countries, fleeing their countries out of desperation. These children don’t care about the DREAM Act or the Senate’s immigration reform bill.

They are terrified of the violence, abuse, and death in their home countries. Young girls – who represent 40 percent of the children who arrived this year – often face sexual assault and rape. …

I urge my colleagues to support the supplemental funding needed for our country to meet this humanitarian crisis. …