During a trip to the Southern Border last week, Rep. Tom Reed, R-NY-23, said he saw firsthand a scenario which drove home the immigration crisis for him.
Reed said a man was attempting to go through customs with a six-month-old child, but something seemed off. When border agents threatened a rapid DNA test and kidnapping charges, the man admitted to “renting” the child from a smuggler because he was told it was the best way to get across.
The story was one of several he relayed during a conference call with reporters.
“I can not live in a Utopic, idealistic world that does not recognize there are threats that are there at the border. I’ve seen the drugs. I’ve seen the weapons. I’ve seen the use of human beings in the most despicable way,” Reed said.
The congressman went on the trip with the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus of which he chairs. He said he was not surprised by what they saw but it was heart wrenching to see it in person.
“This is a crisis,” Reed said. “It is something that is real and what the border agents are doing at the border, to me is humane. It is done out of caring heart and it is doing the best with the crisis level influx of people coming through the border that they have to recognize and deal with and process.”
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