WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tony Gonzales (TX-23) on Tuesday joined House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, Whip Steve Scalise, Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik and their House Republican colleagues for a townhall style event where they heard from Americans who have suffered firsthand the consequences of top issues facing the country.

Topics discussed included the crisis at the southern border, spike in crime and historic inflation. The event featured guests like Kristy Dyroff, a mother whose son died of an opiod overdose, Addison George, a student from Illinois who criticized her school’s mask mandates, and Eric Flannery, a restaurant owner whose liquor license was revoked after he defied local vaccine mandates. Congressman Gonzales discussed the impacts of the border crisis alongside Brandon Judd, the president of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC).

EXCERPTS

ON THE RESOURCES NEEDED: “Right now, these cartels are very sophisticated. They're flying drones from Mexico to the United States. On these drones is Fentanyl, in small little pills. We're talking small little packages that come back and forth. Our agents are seeing this. The reason why they're so frustrated is because they can't do anything about it. They have a walkie talkie and a flashlight. We need to give them some resources.”

ON POTENTIAL BAD ACTORS: “You mentioned the numbers – and numbers matter. Last year, there were 4,103 Russians that came over to our border illegally. How many of those are bad actors? How many of those are a national security threat to our country? We always think it's never going to happen to us until it happens. These are the type of things the intelligence community should be asking. We need to get ahead of a problem, not behind it.”