President Joe Biden's recent visit to the southern border was "nothing more than a photo-op," Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, told Newsmax on Monday.
Jackson insisted on "Eric Bolling The Balance" the president was using his trip "to reform his image" before deciding to run again in 2024; however, the representative noted "he didn't see a single person" despite over 535 border crossings Sunday.
"He didn't go to any of these areas where migrants are being detained or kept," Jackson said.
"There's all kinds of stuff he could have done down there to really get a taste for what's going," he added, specifically working with local officials and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Jackson also criticized the Democrat city officials in El Paso for picking a historically slow border crossing month for Biden's visit and not directing him to any substantially populated migrant centers.
"This infuriates me that the Democrats down there are playing politics and siding with Biden and catering to Biden, and they're going to clean that place up so that, on national TV, it looks like Biden has a secure border and he has everything under control," Jackson said.
"It's an absolute disaster down there, and they should have let him see what a disaster it is," he added.
Jackson encouraged the Biden administration to pursue drug cartels by aiding the Mexican government to take them out, citing the fentanyl epidemic as creating the conditions necessary to intervene.
Former President Donald Trump "is being extra bold right now. He's talking about using our military to go in there and to go after these cartels," he said in reference to Trump's 2024 campaign platform. "It's time for that to happen."
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