U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., attempted to discourage a pregnant migrant from crossing the Rio Grande for fear the migrant would drown during a visit to the southern border on Monday and Tuesday that she described as “gut-wrenching.”

Britt, who said securing the border with Mexico was among her top priorities during her Senate campaign, met with law enforcement, migrants and victims of drug cartels and human trafficking at the border.

“What we witnessed these past 24 hours was gut-wrenching,” the senator said in a statement. “The raw numbers alone tell us that there is an unprecedented national security and humanitarian crisis at the southern border. However, seeing it up close was truly eye-opening, underlining the historic magnitude of the problem and giving faces to the very real human cost of the reckless policies that have caused this disaster. This trip was an important opportunity for me to listen to and learn from the people who are facing this every single day, from boots-on-the-ground law enforcement officers to courageous survivors of the cartels’ human and drug trafficking. Now, my team and I will be hard at work formulating and advancing tangible solutions that will help seal and secure the border and defend America’s future.”

Britt joined fellow female Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi on a visit to the southern border to better grasp how the Biden administration’s policies were contributing to what the legislators deemed a national crisis.

Among the stops on Britt’s fact-finding trip was the border town city Eagle Pass, Texas, where the senator observed a group of migrants, including several children and a pregnant woman, about to cross the border into the United States.

The pregnant woman’s husband told Britt they “were told the border was open,” according to Sean Ross, Britt’s communications director.

Britt tried to dissuade the couple from crossing the river, but the husband said they left their homes in Honduras in November and “it’s too late to turn back now” because the woman is due to give birth, Ross said.

In September, nine migrants drowned trying to cross the Rio Grande.

The couple did not give a reason for why they were trying to enter the country.

Britt and her colleagues left before the migrants crossed, but Fox News drone footage showed the group wading through the Rio Grande.

The senators also visited a ranch on the border whose ability to farm was threatened by migrants who crossed it, adding that Texas authorities helped protect the property.