Nancy, build the wall to see if the wall works.
Rep. Greg Gianforte said a recent trip to the border along Arizona and Mexico has convinced him that a wall is necessary as the United States is facing a humanitarian and national security crisis.
And the Montana Republican said not only was a wall needed, but that border patrol agents needed the technology and equipment to do their jobs.
He said he sees a wall as “part of the solution.”
Gianforte visited the border along Arizona on Jan. 20-21 and said he met with U.S. Border Patrol agents and ranchers. He spent time in Nogales, Sasabe and Douglas and said he met with ranchers and customs officials.
“This is such an important issue for our country I wanted to see it for myself,” he said.
The trip was organized by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and included about eight congressional members, Gianforte said.[…]Gianforte said the tour offered consistent themes: all the ranchers the group spoke to said there were bodies on their ranches who died while making the trek.
He said some of the only barriers were barbed-wire fences with four strands of wire on them.
“They were in such bad shape. I doubt a Montana rancher would put their name on it,” Gianforte said.
He said some of the ranchers reported that illegal immigrants would break into their houses while they were home. One said they had a family member shot and killed as they were checking for water.
He said many of the ranchers said they provided food and water to the people passing through.
“All of the ranchers made it a practice of providing water to anyone in need,” he said. “No one wants to see people suffer in the desert.”
Gianforte said drugs such as methamphetamine are smuggled in across the border. He said cartels position people with radios on hills who give directions to smugglers on how to avoid border patrol agents.
He said he visited an area where the wall was five miles long. The group drove out to where it ended in the desert and could see a trail were illegal immigrants just walked around it.
Border patrol agents were working without pay when Gianforte visited, as they were impacted by the partial federal government shutdown.
Gianforte said they told him they needed resources to be more effective at their jobs.
He said some illegal immigrants cross the border to draw agents away while others cross into the United States.