(NewsNation) — From one side of the state to the other, presidential hopefuls are along Arizona’s southern border to see the issues at work there and to offer their own solutions.
Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited the Yuma Community Food Bank this week, sitting down to talk with the recently retired Border Patrol sector chief.
Kennedy has been criticized for going against the party line, as his stance on border security couldn’t be more different from that of the current administration.
“I think we need detention,” he told NewsNation.
“I understand the impulse of the (Biden) administration is that detention is inhumane,” he said. “But what we’re doing now is much more inhumane. … It has become an invitation to other people to take this huge risk to try to get into this country.”
Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday touched down in Cochise County, which is in the Tucson Sector. Accompanied by several sheriffs from counties along the border, DeSantis came for a tour and to talk about plans for a new partnership between like-minded state governments.
“We’ve seen almost 2 1/2 years of disaster upon disaster,” DeSantis said. “I don’t know how you just sit there and watch the country be overrun.”
The Tampa Bay Times reports that DeSantis didn’t provide much detail, but said there will be an announcement in coming days about the multistate partnership, which the presidential contender says is a rebuke of President Joe Biden’s border policies.
“We’re gonna partner with all like-minded sheriffs and governors around the country to create a coalition of people that actually do have the will to fight back against this problem,” he said.
Violence plaguing the southern border has been a problem highlighted by lawmakers, community members, migrants and border officials alike.
After having seen it for themselves, both DeSantis and Kennedy say they plan to take what they learned back to their states, and use the information to influence national policy should they become president.