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MR. DOOCY: Joining us right now from El Paso is Senator John Barrasso from the great state of Wyoming.
Good morning to you, sir.
SEN. BARRASSO: Great to be with you.
MR. DOOCY: We hear about all this stuff that is going down, down there -- drugs and guns and just a constant flow of people across our southern border, because it's so porous.
Senator, what's the number one thing that our government should do to fix the problem?
SEN. BARRASSO: We need enough manpower on the border. You need information; you need the technology. We really need boots on the ground.
I flew last night with the Texas National Guard looking and with the forward-looking infrared you can see people going across the border. I also was out with sheriff yesterday afternoon at Rio Grand. There are actually footbridges going across the river, which isn't very wide and it's not very deep -- easy to get across. And if we don't have people there guarding the border -- the places where we don't have the fence -- then it's going to be easy passage.
MS. CARLSON: So Senator, a lot of Americans might get upset to hear this little fact: The U.S. Congress voted last year to spend 1.4 billion (dollars) in its fight against the drug lords, but has that money done anything?
SEN. BARRASSO: You need to really interrupt this large drug cartel. There are multiple cartels that are moving drugs -- that are producing drugs in South America, moving them through Mexico and then distributing it and selling in the United States. You need to disrupt the drug trafficking organization.
So we need cooperation with the Mexican police and authorities. We need to stop this flow of illegal immigrants and illegal drugs coming into our country and then the flow going out of our country of cash -- cold, hard cash -- and guns.
MR. DOOCY: Sure. And let's go back to your original point, which was we need more manpower down there.
The Mexicans on their side actually have members of the army helping them out. And I know a lot of people are saying, why don't we send the National Guard down there to help out? And there are a number of people in the administration who say, "Ah, we don't want to do that!"
Where do you fall regarding this?
SEN. BARRASSO: I think you need more manpower on the border than we have right now.
MR. DOOCY: Who's the man where that comes from?
SEN. BARRASSO: That's the decision. We do need more boots on the ground. I know the governor of Texas has asked for 1,000 additional troops. When I flew the patrol last night, you can see what the difference is when the patrol is out there and when the patrol isn't there.
The bad guys have as good of surveillance and information as we have. So we need to be able to continue to improve our techniques, because they're going to continue to improve their techniques to break through.
MS. CARLSON: Senator, how much of this has to do with the whole immigration issue in general?
I mean, let's say, for example, we had enforced immigration. I know that sounds crazy, but let's say that we had enforced immigration laws and actually had Border Patrol agents there and the fence and that sort of stuff. Would it have stopped or curtailed this problem?
SEN. BARRASSO: It would. You need to actually secure the border first. That's the first thing you need to do. And sure, you need to be able to e-verify in terms of hiring people to make sure they're U.S. citizens and you're not hiring illegal immigrants. You need the whole thing, but you need to start it with securing the border between Mexico and the United States.
MR. DOOCY: Well, let's hope somebody's listening and we can do something about it.
Senator Barrasso from Wyoming -- who's down in El Paso today in Texas -- thank you, sir, for joining us.
SEN. BARRASSO: Thank you.