Op-ed: Derrick Anderson: The southern border has gone from bad to worse, and that’ll hurt my home congressional district

I recently had the opportunity to go down to the southern border, specifically Cochise County in Arizona. It reminded me of some of the places I’ve been during my 6 tours overseas, and that’s not a compliment.

In fact, what you see on the news is nothing compared to what’s actually going on down on the border.

I’m running for Congress, and my opponent’s name is Yevgeny Vindman. Some community groups hosted a forum the other night and my opponent — who won’t actually debate — was there.

I was talking about how you can see where the border wall just stops. There’s a long section of wall, then…nothing.

As we went along the border, we saw sections of the border wall that President Donald Trump built. 

We even saw the sections of the border wall that President Barack Obama built.

Then, I asked a sheriff about the open area with no wall  — where many illegal immigrants cross, as you might imagine — and he said “that’s what we call the Biden Wall.”

Again: there was nothing there.

And that’s the open border policy that my opponent wants to continue.

That’s bad for my home district.

In fact, the border crisis has caused every single state in America — including Virginia — to become a border state.

This is about our national security — for example, in my district, two illegal immigrants of Jordanian descent tried to breach the front gates of Marine Corps Base Quantico. They’re now out on bail, and it’s very difficult to find information on the situation. Imagine that.

And we all know about the waves of illegal immigrants who have come into this country despite the fact that they’ve already been identified as national security threats, whether they’re on a terror watch list or they’re known to us for some other reason.

That’s what my opponent wants to continue. That’s unacceptable — it’s a threat to my home.

This is also about public safety and crime. It’s common sense: as more resources are spent on illegal immigrants, fewer resources are spent on taxpayers, citizens, and people here legally.

The public suffers when our sheriffs have to go fight fentanyl in our districts. It comes across the border and straight into the arms of kids in Virginia’s 7th District.

In fact, I regularly sit down with a lot of sheriffs and chiefs of police, and when I ask them what the number one threat they’re facing is, they all say “fentanyl.”

Five people per day are overdosing on fentanyl right now in Virginia.

So when people like my opponent downplay the border crisis for political reasons, don’t buy it. 

This is a real mess, and we’ve got to get our border under control.

The reality is, as I’ve told my opponent, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris could shut the border down right now. But Vindman, Biden, and Harris won’t do it.

That’s why this election is so important: Yevgeny Vindman has no intention of fixing the border — so if it’s going to get done, he needs to lose. 

If you agree, please join my fight for the future of our country and Virginia’s 7th District at DerrickAnderson.com.

Derrick Anderson is a former Green Beret and former dishwasher in his mother’s restaurant. He is running to represent Virginia’s 7th Congressional District — his home district.