Glad to see our Senator finally took the time with 12 other Democrat Senators to visit our southern border and see what CBP and Homeland Security executives have been saying for at least a year.

In case he has forgotten, the “cages” were erected during the Obama administration. Total apprehensions at our southern border for FY17 were 303,916. cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/sw-border-migration-fy2017#wcm-survey-target-id.

Total apprehensions at our southern border for FY18 were 396,579. https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/usbp-sw-border-apprehensions.

Total apprehensions through FY19 June already reached 390,308, a 469% increase over the previous period in FY18. cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/sw-border-migration/usbp-sw-border-apprehensions.

The $4.5 billion that was recently appropriated to address the overcrowding conditions is fine but it’s a band aid that doesn’t address the outdated immigration policies that encourage the human traffickers to smuggle Central Americans to our border.

Instead of a photo-op complaining that Trump won’t roll-over like Jeff Flake and John McCain did in “the old days”, he needs to show some leadership and fix the problem by changing the existing immigration laws they previously enacted.