“It's very special to be home”

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch was keynote speaker at the Byhalia Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon at Hedge Farms Thursday, September 25.

She covered highlights of the agency’s 300-strong attorneys representing the state in lawsuits, her work to protect children and the pursuit of drug cartels that prey on citizens.

Fitch served as state treasurer for eight years and as executive director of the state personnel board under Governor Haley Barbour, prior to election as Attorney General.

She is the first female Attorney General in Mississippi, elected in November 2019, and taking office January 9, 2020.

Fitch has practiced law 40 years, with degrees in business administration and a juris doctorate from Ole Miss.

Moved by the invocation and pledge of allegiance to the flag, Fitch said she thinks about unity and strength of the nation because of freedom to pray and salute the flag.

“Our children are our future and everyone of us have responsibilities for that,” she said, expressing gratitude for elected officials, mayors and supervisors who serve.

“We are always going to be supportive of you, taking care of us 24/7,” she said to Byhalia’s police officers, Sheriff Kenny Dickerson and others present.

“Everything we do, we act on behalf of all Mississippians. It’s all about listening to each other’s conversations. It’s about conversations. It’s not about violence. I am from Holly Springs and Marshall County and am always so proud of that.”

The AG’s office has a civil side and a criminal side and represents the state and all the appellate work and issues when the state is in a lawsuit, she said.

“If you are out there harming Mississippi, get ready. I’m coming for you,” Fitch said.

The office protects victims of crimes, finds criminals, arrests them and puts them in jail.

“We work very hard to empower our victims,” she said. “We are out there leading every single day.” She supports protecting women’s sports and keeping men out of women’s bathrooms, joining 27 state AG offices in that effort, she said.

Thirteen percent of the population in Mississippi have diabetes and cannot live without insulin. Diabetics are having to choose between putting food on the table or purchasing insulin. Fitch said her office sued insulin manufacturing companies and pharmacies in order for insulin to be affordable to diabetics who cannot live without insulin. She has been to the border twice with law enforcement, “going after drug dealers who are peddling death everyday.”

“They are jeopardizing our communities,” she said, citing 250 fentanyl overdose cases in the state. “The cartels don’t care. They know.”

She said enough drugs and pills come through the borders to kill every American.

`It’s cheap,” she said, adding that fentanyl is highly addictive and is used too lace many substances.

The slogan, “One Pill Can Kill” is being used by partnerships with law enforcement in educating users on the danger of fentanyl.

The state distributes narcan and naloxone, especially around college campuses, she said.

Law enforcement teaches people how to use narcan and also issues drug testing strips so those people who use drugs can test their material to see if it is laced with fentanyl, and not take it if it is.

“The ultimate goal is to save every Mississippian we can,” she said.

An operation to look for drug peddlers in Meridian turned up 72,000 pills and 100 pounds of fentanyl powder, she said.

Fitch said her office is going after human trafficking in the state.

“It’s about understanding what it is,” she said. “Not one person said, `I want to be a victim. Sign me up.’ “

Human trafficking is a $150 billion a year illicit business, Fitch said.

Over 350 victims are identified each year in Mississippi, she said. Now school bus drivers are trained to watch for it.

Operation Guardian Force has 400 law enforcement officers at the federal, state and local level in Mississippi.

Fitch said the state did a very successful take down starting on the Gulf Coast and moving on up through Hattiesburg, Tupelo and then DeSoto County.

The operation led to 72 arrests in two and a half weeks and rescued 29 victims.

“What we say to the trafficker – don’t do it in Mississippi,” she said. “We are prosecuting very hard.

“It’s always about partnership (with other agencies).” She said the Super Bowl is the largest human trafficking area around. Operation Game Over made 14 arrests and rescued four victims in three days in February 2025, Fitch said. “It’s real,” she said.

“Our children are being leveraged on so many levels online. Social media cartels are going after our children. We are going to continue the fight.”

Fitch said the state needs affordable childcare, which can cost as much yearly as it does to go to college in Mississippi.

“You shouldn’t have to spend 11 percent of your income on childcare,” she said.

She said child support enforcement needs to collect the over $1 billion owed in the state from absentee parents.

Passionate about children, Fitch said the state needs to fix the broken adoption and foster care system. Over 4,000 children in the state are in foster care, she said.

“They need a forever home,” she said, adding that some children age out of foster care and come back in to the state system on the other side.

“We’re working all way through the court system,” Fitch said. “They need to know they are loved.” The state now has Safe Haven baby boxes, where unwanted newborns can be dropped off at a fire station, a police station or a hospital, no questions asked.

She said the baby boxes keep the newborns from being left in the woods or a dumpster.

“We’ve had three babies saved,” she said.

The MAMA.gov program in Mississippi provides material assistance to parents. It is a public/private/faith-based support system, now about two years in existence. The program provides car seats for children and helps people find a job.

“In Mississippi, we’re looking for ways to be very proactive,” Fitch said. “We are going to step in.

“We have a lot of incredible things in our state. We’re doing it right in Mississippi. Everyone here believes in a better day. We can’t do it by ourselves.”

She said volunteers are finding the rewards of stepping up and changing lives and making a difference.

“It’s very special to be home,” Fitch said.