(LISTEN): New Missouri House committee to investigate crimes involving suspected illegal immigrants

The speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives has appointed a former director of the Missouri Department of Public Safety (DPS) to lead a new House committee that will investigate crimes committed by suspected illegal immigrants.

House Speaker Dean Plocher (R-Des Peres) has called a press conference for 11 a.m. this morning (Tuesday) in Jefferson City, where he will announce the formation of a new House Select Committee on Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants. Chairman Plocher and committee Chairman Lane Roberts, who is also a former Joplin police chief, will brief the Capitol Press Corps. Chairman Plocher said the committee will work closely with law enforcement to assess criminal activity involving suspected illegal immigrants in Missouri, as well as propose solutions.

Mike Murphy of 939 the Eagle reports that in late June, five men suspected of being illegal immigrants were arrested in Macon County, in northern Missouri, along with a 14-year-old runaway girl from Indiana. Police say they were trafficking her to California. Murphy reports that all five suspects are from Mexico and Honduras and have been charged and jailed.

Meanwhile, the southern border is a top campaign issue for a former Republican senator from Lake St. Louis who is running to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-St. Elizabeth) on Capitol Hill. Former state Sen. Bob Onder (R-Lake St. Louis) is one of seven Republicans running in the August primary. Onder told 939 the Eagle that he is concerned about fentanyl and other issues:

“Because it’s not just a security issue with the crimes that illegal immigrants are committing, it’s an economic issue, the economic burden that 10 million illegal immigrants are putting on our country. The burden in terms of 100,000 fentanyl poisonings since (President) Joe Biden took office. Human trafficking is at an all-time high,” Sen. Onder told 939 the Eagle last week during a presidential debate viewing party at Lakeside Ashland.

Onder will face former state Sen. Kurt Schaefer (R-Columbia), state Rep. Justin Hicks (R-Lake St. Louis) and four other candidates in the August Republican primary. The winner will face one of two Democrats in the race: Bethany Mann of Wentzville and Andrew Daly of Fulton. Congressman Luetkemeyer is retiring after serving eight terms on Capitol Hill.