WASHINGTON – Congressman Tom Rice (R-S.C) last night held a telephone townhall with constituents of the 7^th Congressional District of South Carolina.  Congressman Rice answered a range of safety and security questions on stopping the crisis at our Southern border, fixing the immigration system and providing assistance to law enforcement. 

“Right now, with the Southern border being so open, that’s where 90% of the opioids come from and fentanyl that is killing so many people…The cartels are just making so much money and the President is unwilling to enforce the border laws…We need to do a lot better job in controlling our borders. Not just for the humanitarian aspect, not just for the illegal immigration aspect, but we have got to do a better job in keeping these drugs from coming across our Southern border,” said Congressman Rice in response to a question about drugs coming across the border.

“I think [illegal immigration] is so bad - for empowering cartels, for the human crisis it creates, for the crisis it creates economically for people on the low end of the scale here in America, and for minorities in particular,” said Congressman Rice in response to a question about the effects of illegal immigration in the 7^th District.

“Criminals have been emboldened by the activities of the Democrats. All the calls about defunding the police and it’s affected law enforcement morale, it’s affected law enforcement funding, and I think that this ill-considered effort is coming back to rouse now because crime has increased across the country…I did a law enforcement tour and I went and met with all the law enforcement – the Sheriff’s departments and a lot of the local departments in the District and I asked them about their problems,” said Congressman Rice in response to a question about providing assistance to law enforcement. 

Staying in touch with constituents and providing quality constituent service is a priority for Congressman Rice.  Congressman Rice holds in person town hall events and telephone town hall events on a regular basis to hear from constituents about the different issues South Carolina is facing and to provide updates from Washington.

Residents of the 7^th District can contact Congressman Rice at any time through his website, www.rice.house.gov or by calling one of his offices: Washington DC (202) 225-9895; Grand Strand Regional Office (843) 445-6459; Pee Dee Regional Office (843) 679-9781. Constituents can also signup for Congressman Rice’s weekly newsletter on his website to stay up to date with the latest news and actions of Congress. 

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