Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., told Newsmax that the GOP is going to "learn a lot" from the House Judiciary Committee's hearing on the southern border crisis, which is scheduled to be held in Yuma, Arizona, Thursday.
"We can leverage these hearings to allow the American people to know what's going on," Moore said during an appearance on Newsmax's "National Report." "Once you understand the crisis that we face here — whether it's the fentanyl, the 20,000 children we have lost as they've come into this country unaccompanied — the American people would be terribly upset if they understand what's going on."
"A closed border is a compassionate border," he continued. "We cannot address immigration reforms in this country until we close this southern border and get a handle on what's going on down here."
The Washington Examiner reported that Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee announced last week that they would boycott a Republican-led trip to Arizona because they were not properly informed about the trip.
Moore pushed back on that claim, saying "as far as I know," everyone was invited to go on the trip to the border.
"The Democrats had an opportunity to join us out here and address the problems facing the American people at the southern border but they were all 'no's,'" he said.
When asked why Yuma, Arizona, was chosen as the site for the hearing, Moore said the border community has "a story to tell."
"The number of encounters they've had over the last three years, the difference in what the Trump administration was doing for this community and what's going on now under the current administration — it's a remarkable story, it's a stark difference in how we manage the U.S. southern border," the Alabama Republican said.
"It's just easy to listen to a story locally and understand the differences between a prior administration and a failed administration," he added.
Moore also said that if President Joe Biden visited the stretch of the border in Yuma, it would "show that he actually puts America first."
"We have a president who globetrots," he said. "He goes around the world trying to solve other nations' problems and denies and ignores the problems right here in our very own country, whether it's East Palestine or the U.S. southern border.
"These are things that this administration could lead on, but they've turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to the American people and to the crises that we face."
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