The Hill:

"I went down there kind of undecided," Kinzinger said on "Face the Nation" on CBS.

"I think if this was just an issue of immigration it wouldn't constitute a national emergency," he added. "But what I saw was really disturbing."

He recounted witnessing a woman "hunkered down in the desert" after the individuals who brought her across the border abandoned her, as well as another instance where his unit found 70 pounds of methamphetamine being transported into the country.

Kinzinger acknowledged that government statistics show border apprehensions are at the lowest levels in decades, but said what he saw firsthand showed drugs and human trafficking pose a significant problem.

As a result, Kinzinger said he won't vote to block President Trump's national emergency declaration to secure funds that have not been congressionally appropriated for his long-desired wall along the southern border.

"I wish this would've happened a different way," he said, but added that he believes Trump has the authority to declare an emergency.

"If this was just about immigration I would disagree," he said. "I do think this is a security threat. It's a security threat with the amount of drugs coming over the border and the human trafficking that I've seen."