House Speaker Tim Moore ‘humbled’ by visit to southern border | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the Carolina Journal. The author of this post is Alex Baltzegar.

    On Saturday, October 28, 2023, North Carolina Speaker of the House Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, visited the U.S.-Mexico border.

    During his visit, the Texas Department of Public Safety briefed Moore regarding the ongoing crisis at our southern border and met with members of the North Carolina National Guard who were deployed there.

    "Headlines fail to capture the reality of the crisis at our southern border," Moore said in a press release. "I was humbled to visit in person to be briefed by Texas DPS and to witness firsthand the challenges that they are dealing with at the border."

    Moore's border visit comes amidst speculation that he will run for Congress in North Carolina's newly drawn 14th Congressional District, composed of Burke, Rutherford, Cleveland, and Gaston with parts of Mecklenburg and Polk counties.

    The visit also comes as Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. penned a letter with eleven of his colleagues on Monday to President Joe Biden, urging him to take steps to protect Americans from terrorism. The letter points out that in fiscal year 2023, 169 migrants with positive terrorism watchlist matches were apprehended along our Southern border. This is a tenfold increase from the figures reported in 2021.

    "The recent brutal and reprehensible attacks by Hamas against Israel underscore the importance of vigilance against global terrorist groups both internationally and domestically. As President of the United States, we expect you to take every necessary step to ensure the protection of the homeland and to both prioritize and resource this task accordingly," the senators wrote.

    Carolina Journal's Donna King visited the southern border wall earlier this year and had a similar experience. King was told about two thousand migrants were being allowed in each day.

    Moore called on the federal government for profound policy changes following his trip.

    "There is an urgent need for policy change at the state and federal level, including a requirement that sheriffs fully cooperate with ICE officials and a greater effort to crack down on sanctuary cities," Moore said. "It's time for Washington to wake up and finally crack down on illegal immigration and border crossings that have reached crisis levels under the Biden administration."

    Moore has been Speaker of the North Carolina House since 2014 and served in the state legislature since 2002. He has said this is his last term serving as speaker, and he will not be running for re-election.