Rep. Jeff Fortenberry made a trip to the Texas border with Mexico on Tuesday, describing the border along the Rio Grande River as "almost wide-open" to illegal crossing into the United States.

"For those of us not on the border, it's a jarring experience," the 1st District Republican congressman said in a series of posts on Twitter.

"Border Patrol needs help," Fortenberry tweeted. "They have a 500% increase in cases.

"With Border Patrol," the Lincoln congressman tweeted at another point, "persons cross. Turn themselves in. Almost casual. Surreal."

"This says it all when policy changes," Fortenberry said in another tweet that accompanies a photo of border fencing. "Small fence to protect the border. Big fence was built to do better. Big fence now being torn down. Defies logic."

In a tweet describing a chase, Fortenberry wrote: "It's not glamorous: tall brush, weeds, heat, mud — and multiple places to hide. It's becoming Wild West again here. Sheriff needs help." Fortenberry said at one point he was near the town of Uvalde.

"The sheriff just let us know that, right now, persons who are here illegally are fighting with Border Patrol agents and officers by the railroad tracks.

"Likely to be a tough day," the congressman wrote.