Ex-GOP lawmaker says some of his colleagues expected 'shootouts in the streets' when they visited Mexico: 'Like Black Hawk Down'

In reality, US border towns are often safer than similarly-sized cities elsewhere in the US.

• Ex-Rep. Will Hurd says some of his former colleagues were fearful of traveling to the US-Mexico border.
• Hurd said some lawmakers and top officials expected to encounter a warzone, like Mogadishu in 1993.
• In reality, US border towns are often safer than similarly-sized cities elsewhere in the US. 

Former Republican Rep. Will Hurd said some of his fellow lawmakers and top officials were fearful of visiting the US-Mexico border and towns in Mexico, expecting a scene that resembled a warzone.

"To correct misconceptions about the border, I brought congressional colleagues and administration officials down for tours of the border. Some were nervous when I took them into Mexico. Many were expecting the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993, with shootouts in the streets like Black Hawk Down," Hurd wrote in his new book, "American Reboot: An Idealist's Guide to Getting Things Done." 

"Black Hawk Down" is a reference to a 1993 US raid on Mogadishu to disrupt a local warlord's operation that was attacking and killing UN peacekeeping troops. The operation went disastrously wrong. As Smithsonian Magazine recounted, an 18-hour firefight left 19 Americans and hundreds of Somalis dead. Jubliant militias paraded the bodies of Americans through the streets, images that reverberated back home and became a defining moment in both President Bill Clinton and America's foreign policy. The story of the raid inspired a book and later a movie.

These fears didn't just suddenly appear. Former President Donald Trump announced his 2016 presidential campaign by decrying Mexico for "sending people that have lots of problems," including drug traffickers and "rapists." Trump infamously concluded that "some, I assume, are good people."

As Hurd pointed out, crime rates along the border are often safer than in comparable cities elsewhere in the US. A 2021 Axios analysis found that while violent crime rose in the US in 2020, violent crime rates in the 11 largest cities along the US-Mexico border remained below the national average.

Hurd's retirement in 2019 shocked his House colleagues. At the time, he was the only Black Republican in the House. The then-41-year-old represented Texas' sprawling 23rd District, a 58,000 square mile behemoth from San Antonio to El Paso. At times, Hurd was critical of President Donald Trump, especially about Trump's racist attacks on Democratic lawmakers like Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. 

In his book, Hurd lamented the reoccurring struggle of both parties to overhaul the nation's immigration system. He pointed out that his bipartisan Uniting and Securing America Act was much more targeted than the massive proposals that failed during the Obama and Bush administrations. But even this more limited legislation failed to become law.

"Its failure reflects all the problems with Washington—appealing to the fringes rather than the middle, the lack of willingness to be honest and do the right thing, the failure to get audio and video to match, and the inability to recognize how more unites us than divides us," Hurd wrote.