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(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Ted Cruz toured a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border in Cochise County, Ariz., on Friday accompanied by Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

At a press conference at the border, Cruz noted that some members of the media accompanying his group had climbed over the border fence to take pictures from the other side. He also said: “My 5-year-old daughter could have climbed over or under that fence in about 20 seconds.”

Here is an excerpt from Cruz’s remarks:

“On the border today, it was striking just how unsecure the border is. Where we toured the border, the fencing was minimal. Indeed, as we stopped and stood on the border several of the folks here in the media, taking pictures, decided they would get a picture from the other side of the fence. So they promptly climbed the fence and crossed illegally into the nation of Mexico. It took all of ten seconds to climb the fence and get a better shot from another nation. I am not sure if the Mexican authorities will be arresting any of our members of the media. But it says something that this was not a complicated endeavor, this was just: Oh, the camera shot’s a little bit better from over in Mexico, let’s cross over. "Well, you know if you are a drug coyote and you’re bringing hundreds of pounds of heroin or cocaine or marijuana--and I would note the drug epidemic we have in this country is devastating, over 50,000 people dying in a typical year from drug overdoses. Heroin is destroying the lives of our young people, and that unsecure border is a big part of the reason--when it’s easy that you can hop the fence.