U.S. Rep. Fred Keller, R-Kreamer, came away from a brief trip to the Mexican border with the belief that polices on immigration under the Trump Administration must be reinstated.

Keller visited ports of entry at El Paso and New Mexico, talking with border officials, ranchers and others in those areas.

The lawmaker, whose 12th Congressional District includes Lycoming County, said people directly impacted by illegal immigration are pleading for help from the U.S.

“All the Biden Administration needs to do is reinstate Trump policies that were working,” he said.

Keller termed his trip with Republican members of the House Oversight Committee as very informative.

Some of what he learned along the border he found disturbing.

Ranchers, he said, are feeling the ill effects of illegal immigration.

“People are getting chased off their properties by illegal aliens,” he said.

It has caused many ranchers to arm their children to stave off the intruders.

“One of the ranchers was kidnapped at gunpoint,” he said. “These people are coming over in camouflage. They have lookouts. Quite frankly, the president and the vice president need to get down to the border and talk to people who are being confronted.”

Children from Mexico coming to the U.S. illegally is yet another issue, he said.

Keller called for completion of the border wall as part of a solution to the immigration problem.

“The wall has already been paid for,” he said, noting that wall materials remain stacked at a border site where Keller and others visited.

He said he learned that border officials need the tools and the ability to do their jobs properly.

“And finish the wall. With a wall, you don’t need as many agents,” he said.

Keller said he really didn’t go to the border with any pre-conceived notions.

He’s worried that too many states will receive the illegal immigrants.

“It truly is a crisis,” he said.