Exclusive -- Robert F. Kennedy at the Border: 'This Problem Is Solvable'

Democratic Party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., made a surprise visit to the U.S.-Mexico border on Monday night and early Tuesday morning and said the situation was “unsustainable.”

“This problem is solvable,” Kennedy told Breitbart News by telephone. “We just need an administration that has the will to do it.”

As an example, Kennedy cited the need for “restoring the surveillance infrastructure that was mysteriously removed three years ago — there were cameras, there were camera towers, there were ground-sensing devices that were literally torn up that are being stored in a military base, that were part of the patrol infrastructure for the Border Patrol.”

Kennedy said that several other programs, including those that required cooperation with the Mexican government, had been removed or downgraded. “Unfortunately, the Biden administration has let its relationship with Mexico and the Central American countries deteriorate, and we need cooperative agreements with all of them to stop the flow of immigration.

“And it can be easily done,” he continued. “Everybody here is confident that it is manageable, but there’s no will at the federal level.”

He said that while he felt optimistic about the possibility of a solution, his trip to the border, at a gap in the border wall near Yuma, Arizona, had exposed him to a “dystopian nightmare.”

In a selfie video filmed at 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday in Yuma, Kennedy spoke about watching hundreds of migrants cross the border — from West Africa, South Africa, Central Asia, and other far-flung countries.

“All together, people have come across right here from 117 nations in the last couple of years, Kennedy noted in the video. “In three years, in total 7 million people have come across the border illegally into our country. And from here, they’re brought to the Border Patrol station, where they’re processed. After four or five days, they’re released on their own recognizance into our country. And most of them are never seen or heard from again.”

Kennedy added that the stories of the migrants were “heartbreaking.” He added: “This is a humanitarian crisis because of the understanding across the globe that we now have an open border here.”

In speaking with Breitbart News, Kennedy said that he was shocked by the sheer number of countries from which migrants were coming.

“Last night, we spoke to Uzbeks, Kazakhs, people from Azerbaijan, from Bangladesh. At one point, 60 people come across from Senegal. And they’re seeing advertising in their countries, seeing the sanctuary city programs. And there’s a huge industry that is making billions of dollars for the cartels in bringing people.”

“Last night there were Russians, and Chinese, there’s Ukrainians — it’s really extraordinary. It’s not what I expected at all. I expected Central Americans and Latin Americans. But these people are coming in from all over the world. But they’re bing drawn in by what they’re being told is an open border policy.”

Biden said that the Department of Homeland Security was guilty of “extreme malpractice.” Asked about Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Kennedy said: “I am shocked that he is still in office.”

Asked about the border wall, Kennedy said that it “clearly” works in places, and that it should be completed where building materials have already been bought, though he believes that there are sections that could be protected without interfering with the environment, and by including wildlife corridors.

Kennedy also spoke about the need to explore options like restoring Operation Streamline, a since-abandoned policy under which the U.S. targeted illegal migrants for arrest, criminal prosecution, and rapid deportation.

The aspiring Democratic Party presidential candidate, who is mounting an insurgent campaign against incumbent President Joe Biden, met with local officials, and observed the work of Border Patrol agents.

Appearing with Yuma, Arizona, Mayor Doug Nichols, a Republican, Kennedy said that the migrant crisis at the border “should not be a partisan issue.”

He added: “It should not be a partisan issue, and it should not be an issue that falls on these small municipalities or ultimately on these immigrants, and crushing the social services in New York and Chicago and other places. It’s a federal problem.”

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.