Orange County Assemblyman Colin Schmitt, the Republican candidate in the 18th Congressional District, made his way to El Paso, Texas Friday to tour the border.

He says he went to the border to learn about drug trafficking and immigration from Border Patrol.

"We need to secure our border and I am going down here to get those updates from a policy perspective to get that done," said Schmitt.

Schmitt says he decided to make the privately funded trip after seeing a spike in overdose deaths caused by fentanyl-laced drugs.

He toured the border wall with Rep. Tony Gonzales, who represents that region of Texas, to learn more about illegal immigration, connected to flights of asylum-seeking immigrants to the Westchester County Airport and Stewart Airport.

"This is a serious concern to local officials and local residents alike and that is the crisis we are seeing on the border being exported right to our backyard," said Schmitt.

This is the assemblyman's second trip to the Texas border. News 12 reported on Schmitt’s trip in 2019 to the Rio Grande Valley amid another wave of illegal crossings.

News 12 reached out to Pat Ryan, the Democratic candidate in the race. His campaign manager called this trip a “political stunt” and said the Ulster County executive "partnered with law enforcement and increased funding to the county's violent crime task force to take guns off our streets, go after violent gangs, and stamp out fentanyl in our community."