Rep. Issa to Newsmax: Trump Must Push Mexico on Sewage

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., told Newsmax on Wednesday that President Donald Trump must demand that Mexico do more to stop the flow of wastewater from the Tijuana River Valley, which is having a devastating impact on Southern California.

The Tijuana River flows along the southern U.S. border through Mexico for most of its course before crossing into Southern California and emptying into the Pacific Ocean. It has been rife with untreated sewage and industrial waste from Tijuana for decades, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The city's growth has far outpaced the capacity of the sewage treatment plants that serve it, and inadequate and broken plants spew waste into the river, polluting the water and air at Imperial Beach and other California communities near the border.

''The important thing is President Trump made a deal with Mexico that they said would fix it, you know, more than four years ago,'' Issa told ''Rob Schmitt Tonight.''

''He came back and discovered under President [Joe] Biden, nothing had happened, nothing. No progress. And he now knows that he has to get a deal very different than before, one that says if you want to trade with America, tariff or no trade tariff, you're going to have to clean up what is, in fact, your sewage coming into the United States,'' he said.

Issa on Tuesday joined Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, presidential advisers Ed Russo and Rob Barrett, three House Democrats, and other state and local officials at the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Diego. The group toured the site, which treats up to about 25 million gallons of water a day, according to an EPA news release, and locations along the border to witness the impact and damage from the Mexican sewage.

The previous day, Zeldin met with his counterpart in Mexico, Alicia Bárcena, who said her country is committed to solving the problem ''once and for all,'' according to the EPA.

''The president didn't just send his administrator, a Cabinet-level position,'' Issa said. ''He also sent two of his closest advisers. They're experts in the area. And as we went through this with them, they were horrified that we were trying to do a project that, even when done, doesn't fix the problem.

"And I think for both Ed and Rob, they came away saying, Look, we'll make sure this project gets done quickly and accurately. But since it doesn't actually fix it, the word back with the president has to be back to the table in with Mexico to make a deal that can clean up this disaster of a half a century.''

The Pentagon's inspector general released a report in February that said Navy SEAL candidates in Southern California often train in water filled with bacteria that cause illnesses. It said candidates at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado would often train in the ocean even when nearby San Diego beaches were closed to the public because of elevated levels of "fecal indicator bacteria."

''And even on some days they can't train anywhere,'' Issa said. ''Sometimes, they have to go into a swimming pool, which means that they're hurting there. Other times they go in and obviously are exposed to things.''

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