“I believe they will be a tremendous help in securing that border,” she said.

Blackburn was accompanied by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, on the trip. Sen. Cotton is no stranger to the 101st Airborne Division, after having served as a platoon leader with 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry in Iraq in 2006.

He echoed Blackburn’s assertion, saying, “A nation has to defend its borders. That’s a core element of sovereignty. We typically have Customs and Border Patrol on our borders to defend them, but when you face the kind of threat we do now with a unlawful caravan of thousands of people who’ve already violated the borders of one country, Mexico, who claim that they’re going to continue march on our border … then I support what the president is doing.”