Speaker Johnson leads House GOP on a trip to a Texas border city

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson is leading about 60 fellow Republicans in Congress on a visit to the Mexican border. Their trip later Wednesday to Eagle Pass, Texas, comes as they are demanding hard-line immigration policies in exchange for backing President Joe Biden’s emergency wartime funding request for Ukraine.

Senate negotiators in Washington are plugging away in hopes of a bipartisan deal. The number of illegal crossings into the United States topped on several days last month. Eagle Pass, a border city, has been at the center of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star. That's his nearly $10 billion initiative that's tested the federal government’s authority over immigration and elevated the political fight over the issue.