Challenges at the southern border and the need for sheriffs to cooperate with ICE were key takeaways for North Carolina Rep. Tim Moore on Friday.

Moore, the Republican North Carolina House of Representatives speaker from Cleveland County, said in a statement Monday, “Headlines fail to capture the reality of the crisis at our southern border.”

He was briefed in Texas by its Department of Public Safety.

“There is an urgent need for policy change at the state and federal level, including a requirement that sheriffs fully cooperate with ICE officials and a greater effort to crack down on sanctuary cities,” he said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “It’s time for Washington to wake up and finally crack down on illegal immigration and border crossings that have reached crisis levels under the Biden administration.”

Moore could soon be announcing a run for a spot in Washington he says needs to awaken. He has said he will not seek a 12th term in the state House. He’s served a record five of them as leader of the chamber.

Border crossings total more than 10 million since the inauguration of President Joe Biden. Only nine states have more population. Official U.S. Customs and Border Protection data includes 3.2 million apprehensions in fiscal 2023 (Oct. 1 to Sept. 30); 2.7 million in fiscal 2022; 1.9 million in fiscal 2021; and 471,954 in the nine months Biden was in office in fiscal 2020.

Combined, official apprehensions total 8.4 million.

Those figures exclude gotaway data, which Customs and Border Protection does not report publicly. Sources in the Border Patrol have told The Center Square a minimum estimate for gotaways since January 2021 is nearly 1.7 million. Former Customs and Border Protection Chief Mark Morgan told The Center Square gotaway data could exceed 1 million in fiscal 2023.