The U.S. Southern border is described as “a humanitarian crisis” by Carter County Mayor Patty Woodby and Sullivan County Sheriff Jeff Cassidy.
“December was a major month, 4,300 undocumented immigrants coming into our country,” Cassidy stated. “This is just an invasion of the United States.”
“They’re spread all over the place, they’re in Tennessee, they’re in our backyards, and it’s a real concern for us because they’re not here to be helpful, they’re here with ill-will towards us,” Woodby stated. “They’re here to rape, steal and it’s a catastrophe what’s going to happen if we don’t get a hold of this situation.”
On Monday, Cassidy, Woodby, and other political leaders from Tennessee made a visit to the Southern border.
They discussed what they observed and the actions being done to help safeguard the border at a press briefing on Friday.
“It’s really not about political lines, democrat, republican, however, you may be, it’s about protecting the citizens of this great country,” Woodby stated. “Because we’re still the greatest country in the world, for us to be that way we have to take care of our own people.”
Cassidy and Woodby acknowledge that drug gangs are taking advantage of the border situation to enter the country, contributing to the fentanyl catastrophe that claims the lives of over 100,000 Americans annually.
However, they went on to say that it goes beyond that and brought attention to human trafficking.
“There’s Plan B, pregnancy tests littered all over the ground where they’re raping women, murdering them, right there on their property,” Cassidy stated.
However, how are they going to translate what they seen at the Southern border to our part of Tennessee?
manitarian crisis” is how Sullivan County Sheriff Jeff Cassidy and Carter County Mayor Patty Woodby describe the U.S. Southern border.
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“December was a major month, 4,300 undocumented immigrants coming into our country,” said Cassidy. “This is just an invasion of the United States.”
“They’re spread all over the place, they’re in Tennessee, they’re in our backyards, and it’s a real concern for us because they’re not here to be helpful, they’re here with ill-will towards us,” said Woodby. “They’re here to rape, steal and it’s a catastrophe what’s going to happen if we don’t get a hold of this situation.”
Cassidy, Woodby, and other Tennessee elected officials visited the Southern border on Monday.
On Friday, they held a press conference to discuss what they saw and the steps that are being taken to help secure the border.
“It’s really not about political lines, democrat, republican, however, you may be, it’s about protecting the citizens of this great country,” said Woodby. “Because we’re still the greatest country in the world, for us to be that way we have to take care of our own people.”
Cassidy and Woodby acknowledge drug cartels using the border crisis to come into the U.S. which is adding to the fentanyl crisis with more than 100,000 Americans dying each year.
But they said it’s more than just that and also highlighted human trafficking.
“There’s Plan B, pregnancy tests littered all over the ground where they’re raping women, murdering them, right there on their property,” said Cassidy.
But how will they apply what they saw at the Southern border to our region here in Tennessee?
“I’m very strong about supporting law enforcement in our community and the great state of Tennessee and helping them defend the people that we love because I know we don’t want to see one of our loved ones hurt or harmed,” Woodby continued. “Or a member of our community from a migrant who has come in here, who are already attacking our law enforcement and our loved ones, and there’s been no penalties for them. The judicial system cannot handle what’s happening.”
“It’s just going to be a huge burden on the taxpayers, “Cassidy stated. “And at the end of the day, the people who are hardworking citizens, I want to protect because those are the ones who are trying to go home, feed their families, and at some point in time those are the people that need to be taken care of.”
Additionally, Woodby expressed her opinion that East Tennessee has an advantage in managing any fallout from the border situation.
“I think what we’re seeing with it trickling through where Texas is located, they’re coming from the West and into the middle and so at this point, we’ve not seen a huge incline of population,” Woodby further added. “We need to be working as a team to watch the numbers and see what’s happening so we know how to address it when it’s here.”
