CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — In a dual appearance with the sheriff of Hamilton County, Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) detailed his view of the border crisis and his reasons for taking Tennessee mayors and sheriffs to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs joined Hagerty on the trip. His office said Jacobs paid for the trip himself, using no county funds.
"As I go across Tennessee, sheriffs tell me this, law enforcement officers, district attorneys about the rise and fentanyl deaths overdoses that we're having," Hagerty said. "It's the magnitude of the challenge and the fact that we've got to do something about this."
Hagerty, a Republican, voted against a bipartisan border bill in the U.S. Senate earlier this month. Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla) negotiated the bill on behalf of Republicans.
"The bill provides funding to build the wall, increase technology at the border, and add more detention beds, more agents, and more deportation flights," Lankford said in a press release. "This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to close our open border."
Former President Donald Trump called the proposal meaningless and a gift to President Biden as he seeks reelection, the AP said.
WBIR asked Hagerty if his opposition to the bill came from President Trump and the 2024 presidential campaign.
"Absolutely not," Hagerty said. "I think Senator Lankford will tell you this as well. There were many things that needed to be amended on that bill, to get it to a final product that would work ... It wasn't just President Trump's voice. It was the voice of Tennesseans that I heard loud and clear."
In October, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee pledged 125 National Guardsmen from Tennessee to the southern border for a year-long deployment. He visited the border earlier this month and pledged two more waves of Tennessee National Guard deployments to Texas.
From as early as 2007, Tennessee sent its National Guard to the southern border. WBIR's cameras previously followed Democratic then-Governor Phil Bredesen to the border with the National Guard.