Republicans have long argued that Democrats are indifferent to controlling the southern border.

That thinking was exemplified to the extreme by Donald Trump and his famous – or depending on your view, infamous – border wall.

Most of that “big, beautiful wall” was never finished, but the issue remains.

And so it was that Thomas H. Kean Jr. recently visited the U.S – Mexican border. Now that his state Senate chores are over, Kean can concentrate full-time on his campaign for the House in CD-7.

In a statement about the trip, Kean criticized President Biden and by extension incumbent House member Tom Malinowski.

“From day one of his presidency, Presiden Biden has made it clear that protecting our borders is not a  priority for him or his administration and congressional Democrats are encouraging this approach,” he said.

Kean added that Americans deserve safe communities and that Congress must implement common sense border security, which he said he would support from day one.

To offer some perspective, immigration reform, which likely would include border security, has been talked about for more than a decade. But efforts to produce a compromise bill among Democrats and Republicans have been stymied.

The release from Kean’s campaign included a photo of the candidate standing with a small group on the U.S. side of the border. He was accompanied by Reps. Tony Gonzales of Texas and Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma.

The release, however, didn’t say exactly where on the border the group was, or what they did there. For example, who did they talk to? Law enforcement? Residents?  Ranchers? Migrants?

Kean’s statement was aimed at Malinowski, but the former senator is being challenged for the GOP’s congressional nomination by a number of people. most notably Erik Peterson, a conservative, state Assemblyman from Hunterdon County.

One has to presume all the GOP candidates agree with Kean on border issues.