WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today announced he will be traveling to the U.S.-Mexico border next week with other committee members to hold a field hearing examining the increased level of violence along the border.  The hearing, being held in El Paso, Texas, will take place on Monday morning.  More than 7,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since January 2008. 

Among the people testifying at the hearing will be senior officials from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the district attorney of El Paso County, and a former Ciudad Juárez police chief. 

WHO:             Members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Sen. John Kerry (committee chairman), D-Mass.
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo.

WHAT:           Field Hearing on U.S.-Mexico Border Drug Violence

WHEN:           Monday, March 30, 2009
                        8:00 a.m. CT

WHERE:        The University of Texas at El Paso
                        El Paso, Texas