Congressman Tim Burchett visits U.S.-Mexico Border

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - Congressman Tim Burchett visited the U.S.-Mexico border recently.

”Meet with the border agents meet with the officials from Texas, meet with the legal folks, the sheriffs the deputies meet with the people on the front lines of it,” said Burchett.

The 2nd district representative visited with Congressman Andy Biggs of Arizona and Eric Burlison of Missouri.

”Representative Andy Biggs from Arizona has been spearheading this thing for the past couple of years,” said Burchett.

While he spent less than 36 hours at the border in Texas, he thinks it gave him a good look at the issues the country faces.

”It was dirty, it was mean and frankly with these cartels there, they’ll tell you- the people on the border will tell you- they’re just a number, they’re just a dollar sign and we’ve got to do something to stop it,” said Burchett.

The congressman believes this is a fixable issue in Washington but said it’s being ignored right now.

”You’ve got egos, you’ve got economics and frankly, you have stupidity in this thing, and we’ve got to put our heads together in some bipartisan manner,” said Burchett.

He is hoping to address the influx of people seeking out America by employing many of them in their home countries.

”We’re going to have to look at business, we’re going to have to look at jobs and businesses, and I’m not talking sweatshops. I’m talking business that’s going to help these countries,” said Burchett via Zoom. “We’re gonna have to maybe call on our colleges and universities who do research in these areas and start developing these businesses and start attracting American businesses to go down there and employ these people to make a product to sell in this country and vice versa.”

Burchett hopes this new attention to the border will help bring solutions.

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