The Ben Carson campaign says its seen a surge in support for the "anti-Washington" candidate and is taking some aggressive steps to capitalize on the momentum, including paying a visit to the country's "ravaged" southern border and visiting the disastrous EPA-caused spill site in Colorado.

In an exchange with Breitbart News Saturday, campaign spokesman Doug Watts, a former Ronald Reagan staffer, said Carson's planned rally in Phoenix Tuesday is "literally growing by the hour."

"We have over 4,500 RSVPs at the moment and we’re starting to wonder about switching venues," Watts told Breitbart. "The response has been overwhelming. We don't even have a coordinator in Arizona—it was just an online invitation earlier this week, and the response has been unbelievable. Right now, we’re expecting somewhere between 3,500 and 6,500."

The massive illegal immigration problem has been hammered most vociferously by Donald Trump, but Carson's similarly "anti-establishment" campaign is starting to hammer the issue even harder. Carson is following up the rally with a tour of the "ravaged" border area Wednesday, with various public events on the way, in part apparently designed to draw more attention to the trip.

"The Sheriff is very kind to give a helicopter tour in the Pinal County area showing some of the vulnerabilities and some of the regular trafficking routes that he has to contend with on a daily basis," explained Watts. "He along with some of the other law enforcement officials are going to give us a tour along the southern border of Arizona and show us where people’s property and lives and homes are ravaged constantly by illegal immigration."

"Immigration reform has been languishing in Washington for 30 years," Watts said. "All the same tools are available for them today as have been available to them for 30 years. Nothing material has been done. Band-aids, whitewash, kicking the can down the road—it’s the way Washington treats every serious issue in this country and it’s time to take control and get serious and use our innovation, use our laws, stick to our laws and give our law enforcement people the tools they need to make immigration legal in this country and protect American citizens from illegal immigration and the problems it brings with it."

Praising Carson for his Reagan-esque "values and moral leadership," Watts said that this is "the year America strikes back" at begin to "take control" of their government. "They realize that it’s always been within their hands and now they’re going to control it with both hands," he said. Watts.

Prior to the Phoenix rally, Carson will pay a visit to Durango, Colorado, to see the site of a 3-million gallon toxic waste spill caused by the EPA.