Red state sheriff credits Trump’s border policies for already helping his small county: ‘Big impact’

South Dakota Sheriff Pat West told Fox News Digital he is already feeling the impact of Trump’s crackdown on border security ahead of President Donald Trump‘s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.

West, the Meade County sheriff and a guest of Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D. for Trump’s speech, said the supply of drugs crossing the southern border is no longer meeting the high demand for drugs like methamphetamine and fentanyl in South Dakota, which he said proves “the impact that’s already taking place with that secure border.”

“We are seeing a big impact on the border. Methamphetamine and fentanyl [are] our biggest problems that we’ve had in the past, and it’s been running rampant. The shutdown of the border recently has already made an impact on us up north in South Dakota,” West said. 

Johnson touted Trump’s progress in his first six weeks in office to secure the border. 

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“I know that people think that the federal government never gets its work done, but we have seen illegal border crossings down 95% just in the last 40 days of the Trump administration. That has been the White House and Congress working together. Great law enforcement officers like Sheriff West are seeing those impact in South Dakota communities,” Johnson said. 

Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks told CBS News last month that illegal crossings at the southern border are down 94% from the same period last year. Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, echoed that statistic in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), saying known “gotaways” are down 95% at the southern border. 

“Overall our drug problem is connected to a lot of our other crimes that we have in the community. By controlling the border, it eliminates the amount of unnecessary methamphetamine and fentanyl that is coming across the border and then ultimately getting to South Dakota,” West added. 

West said he hopes Trump continues to fund border security “because that’s extremely important for our home front.”

“The other thing is to continue to support law enforcement and military. I’ve got two boys in the United States Marine Corps, so that gets pretty close to me. But he’s putting the right people in the right positions to support the military and keep us secure.”

West solved a sex trafficking case in South Dakota last year when he found a missing 13-year-old girl who had been abducted by a 33-year-old male sex offender. He also arrested a man who was in possession of approximately 2 grams of methamphetamine and 20 grams of fentanyl, which is about 200 pills. 

“Illicit drugs, especially fentanyl and methamphetamine, continue to be a scourge on our communities. The devastation these drugs cause can’t be measured. We will continue to do all we can to get this poison off the streets in Meade County and hold those who bring this poison here accountable,” West said in a statement following the arrest.