President Trump's proposed border wall continues to cause debate across our nation.

One Upstate New York woman who traveled to the border herself says coming to America is the only choice many of these immigrants have.

"It's a matter of life or death for these families. The situation in Honduras has been degraded so much that it's being run by gangs and teenagers are being forced to join the gangs or be killed," said Sheila Sicilia, Syracuse resident.

In his first national Oval Office speech, the president linked illegal drugs and crime to illegal immigration.

According to Broome County District Attorney Steve Cornwell, 90 percent of illegal drugs that eventually make their way to the area come from across the border.

"It's heroin and meth and the different Mexican drug cartels are very powerful and do use an open border to move the product into the United States which then it's put into the mail in many situations now," said Cornwell.

Those opposing the wall say even if crime is making its way into the country, this isn't the way to handle it.

"The wall won't stop it and our own government statistics show that terrorists are not being arrested at the border where a wall would be. Drugs and crimes, especially drugs, are coming through ports of entry,” said Sicilia.

Whether or not there is ever a wall or barrier, Cornwell says we need a drug detention and prevention system at the border.

In the meantime, counties like Broome have systems in place to prevent drugs from entering the area.

"Regardless of whether or not Washington is working or not working, we're not shut down here. We have a system in place to reduce the amount of drugs coming into Broome County but we could certainly use some help with the drugs coming across the border in one form or another,” said Cornwell.

Broome County saw only a handful of crimes in recent years linked to undocumented immigrants.