BOSTON — John Deaton, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate, took a long flight south this week to visit the United States-Mexico border to “truly understand” the root causes of immigration issues that have sparked contentious debates in both Washington and Massachusetts.

Planning for the trip to Yuma, Arizona came in the wake of Gov. Maura Healey’s decision to use the Melnea A. Cass Recreational Complex in Roxbury to house homeless migrant families with children and pregnant women as they awaited placement in the state’s emergency shelter system.

Deaton, who grew up in the suburbs of Detroit and is now looking to unseat U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, said the move “struck a chord with me because I know what it’s like in that inner city.”

Taking away a recreation center where kids play sports “bothered me on a big level because I identify with those kids,” Deaton said.

“That’s when I said, ‘listen, this is getting completely out of control. I want to take a trip to the border. I know the issue but I need to understand the problem better.” Deaton said by phone Tuesday from a hotel in Yuma hours before he started his trek back to Massachusetts. “You can’t offer solutions if you don’t fully understand not just the impact of the problem, but the root cause of it.”

The visit to Yuma included multiple visits to the border fence, including one Monday night with Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines that lasted until about midnight followed by another Tuesday morning. Deaton also had dinner on Monday with Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot.

Deaton said the trip reinforced the idea that Congress and the Biden administration need to “secure the border,” including by utilizing more technology and tools to stop “the illegal flow” of migrants into the U.S.

U.S. Border Patrol agents encounter thousands of migrants crossing into the U.S. at the border with Mexico each month, according to the Pew Research Center. The agency recorded more than 137,000 encounters along the southwest border in March, about 16% less than the same time last year.

“As much sympathy as I had, and I do have, for undocumented undocumented migrants, I probably didn’t truly grasp the humanitarian crisis that these failed policies have created,” Deaton said. “I didn’t truly appreciate what these migrants are going through.”

Spending on emergency shelters in Massachusetts has become a hot topic on Beacon Hill, where state lawmakers have approved hundreds of millions in extra spending to account for an influx of migrants from other countries.

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