North Carolina Congressman David Rouzer joined a delegation of congressional Republicans visiting the southern border on July 25. He used the trip as an opportunity to criticize the Biden administration’s immigration policy.
“Rather than enforcing our laws, President Biden’s open-border policies are incentivizing illegal immigration and creating a crisis that is growing worse by the day at our southern border,” said Rouzer, who represents the state’s 7th congressional district, in a statement.
“This week, I witnessed firsthand the severity of his catastrophic policies — rampant drug smuggling, tragic drownings, terrorist apprehensions, and devastation. It’s past time this inhumane disaster is acknowledged by the administration and they reverse their policies enabling and enriching the drug cartels,” Rouzer added.
Rouzer’s visit comes as the crisis at the southern border has deepened in recent months. The Washington Examiner reported July 25 that United States authorities have found 609 bodies on the U.S. side of the southern border this year, higher than the last record set in 2021 of 566 bodies.
The humanitarian crisis was put in stark relief in June when 53 people died from extreme heat in a tractor-trailer that was abandoned near San Antonio.
In June, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 207,416 encounters along the southwest border, including 15,271 children.