As the southern border continues to deal with an influx of people, deadly drugs such as fentanyl are also making their way into the United States interior.

Although the southern border is far away from New Hampshire, it’s one of the top issues for 1st District congressional candidate Gail Huff Brown, a former television news anchor and the wife of former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown. The Republican was endorsed by the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) in March, WMUR reported, which prompted a visit from NBPC President Brandon Judd on the campaign trail last week.

Huff Brown spoke with RedState about why the issue of border security goes far beyond just Texas and Arizona, including the impacts of drug trafficking on New Hampshire residents.

Please note that this interview has been lightly edited for grammar, length, and clarity. 

Cameron Arcand: Why is border security such a major issue in the Northeast?

Gail Huff Brown: New Hampshire’s a border state. We have Border Patrol officers here as well. And I went up to the northern border, and what I found out there is that we’re losing our agents to the southern border. But anyway, why did I get engaged in all this? So, I spent 30 years as a reporter, right? An investigative journalist asking questions, researching, investigating people, and kept talking about all the problems with fentanyl. Obviously, I know about it.

Everybody in New Hampshire probably has a family member or a friend who is touched by just the deaths, the overdose deaths from opioids and fentanyl, and knew it was coming from the southern border. You know, obviously coming over from China, and wanted to see how that was happening. So, I got on a plane and I flew to Arizona and met up. I mean, Brandon [Judd] was kind enough to spend the day with me, and take me to different places along the border, and just show me how the fentanyl is coming across–how their hands are tied, and how the policy needs to be changed. So that we go back to the “Remain-in-Mexico” policy. It was working under President Trump.

CA: Are some legislation ideas that you would like to file once you’re in Congress pertaining to the border?

GHB: Number one: I want to go back to the policy that we were under President Trump. The “Remain-in-Mexico” policy. Number two: I want to take away the asylum loophole that allows for them to stay here in our country indefinitely as they await their hearing. The problem is we never find them. They disappear, whether it’s in New York or DC or Chicago, or wherever they’re busing them or flying them. The chances of them reappearing in court for an asylum hearing are null. It’s not gonna happen.

Very few of them actively show up for hearings because we can’t find them. We have to get rid of that loophole in the immigration policy and our immigration law. So, I would absolutely change it. I would find the money to finish the wall. We have to finish the wall.

Listen, I went to the Coronado National Forest[…]and saw where the wall ends and there’s an over an 80% apprehension rate and where there’s no wall, 30% apprehension rate. Now, I know they have drones and I saw how the drone program works and I saw, but it doesn’t work. I mean, that’s the bottom line is that surveillance is not enough to deter the cartels that are making their way across with fentanyl and other illegal substances. So, we have to finish the wall and those are the three things that I would push for.

CA: Is there anything else you would like voters and readers to know about your candidacy when it comes to this specific issue?

GHB: I’m a mother, I’m a new grandmother, I’m a military spouse. I spent the past nearly four years overseas. My husband was appointed by President Trump as the U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa. And I served as president of the Diplomatic Spouses Association and in the Indo-Pacific, you know, every single day we were supporting the America First agenda and we were pushing back against communist China, and other bad actors in that area. It was a very, very difficult assignment, but you know, between my overseas experience, being married to a 39-year retired Colonel, 30 years as an investigative journalist, and a mother-grandmother, I just have life experiences that I think make me the right person to go to Washington and stand up for the people of New Hampshire.

We’ve lost our vote, our voice, here. We have no voice. We are a conservative state and yet our entire federal delegation is Democrat. Why is that? I mean, I can’t answer that. Why is that? In all New England, there are six states that make up New England. There are 33 federal delegates. One Republican– Susan Collins. That’s the only one out of 33. That’s pathetic. That is pathetic.

I want a seat at the table and I want to bring a voice back to New England and to New Hampshire, and we deserve it. We deserve a voice here and I have a loud voice, and I’m willing to use it. I want to use it to help protect the next generations. I think about my grandchildren. And I say, “What kind of America are they gonna grow up in? Is this gonna be a socialist country?” I mean, these kids are coming out of college now talking about communism and socialism like this is the next best thing; it’s not. I’ll do everything I can to protect America and the values that I hold dear, and that many and most Americans, I think hold dear; and that’s freedom and freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and you know, the freedom to pursue happiness. I believe that our republic is the best place to do that.

CA: As someone who’s also a student, I totally see your point about people thinking socialism is the next best thing. When they talk about academia being far left, it’s not an exaggeration. It’s a real thing.

GHB: It’s sick. So, when we were serving overseas, you know, obviously I have many, many friends in the diplomatic corps, and I would talk to them about their countries and about what they could and couldn’t do. It made me realize that, as an American woman, I have more rights than women anywhere in the world by far. It’s sad to me that people are so misinformed about what’s happening in other parts of the world.

The geopolitics of the world right now is scary. In the next few years, we’re gonna have some serious realigning geopolitically. I think we need somebody that has some real experience in foreign policy and has spent time overseas.

The Republican primary in New Hampshire is on Tuesday, September 13. Huff Brown is running against Karoline Leavitt, Matt Mowers, Tim Baxter, and Russell Prescott. The nominee will take on incumbent Democrat Rep. Chris Pappas.