Immigration Discussion 24Aug2024 Lakeland Fla, Rep Laurel Lee, R-FL-15, Ret Border Chief Chris Clem

looks like we're live right [Music] here looks like we're live I'm not sure here hold on let me do this again right [Music] here this is political editor an editor and chief Orland wats of the register here at the um what's going on with that right there why is it not working um the immigration um with Congressman Laurel Lee and um who else oh wait a second looks like I am live like I am live t um yeah looks like I'm live several different ways here um congresswoman Laurel Lee and um retired border Chief uh Chris clim are scheduled to come here and um discuss immigration so um let me see if I can put this around right here let me see if I can actually get a live stream going two different ways looks like I'm not getting a veryy good signal right here what just happened what just happened let me restart this okay I'm trying to restart the live stream TR one more time here this is waiting for the live signal okay I'm getting all kind of problems going live this is a political editor editor-in chief of the Reger gordon.com gordon.com here at the um Bond Springs event center and we're waiting for congresswoman Laur Le retired Arizona Board Chief Chris Clen talk about immigration the immigration Summit I hope to ask a question about getting funding and cutting down um so here's the Event Center things pretty calmal waiting for a live signal I'm going to end this right here at least I have some video okay so at least I have some video this right here [Music] so I [Music] [Music] [Music] feel get up 4 okay so it looks like it's working here um let me flip it around right here this is Gordon Lane Watts editor-in chief of the register um National director of contract with America part 2 I'm here at the Bonnet Springs um Event Center in Lakeland Florida and we're waiting on um US Representative Laurel Lee Republican out of AUST 15th my member of Congress and um retired um Arizona border Chief Chris Clen and um they're planning on talking about border security and I hope to ask uh why they haven't why Congress Lee has not cut certain prohibited Port funding that the Republican platform prohibits so it can not only avert a crash the dollar but maybe free up some funding for the border so let me flip this around here and it lookss like I'm looks like we're live for the event and um there's a business card here and it looks like U this is working here oh oh looks like I'm [Music] Live's [Music] that clear out the thing about to throw it out in the tra thing is [Music] good afternoon everybody I should have you up here you don't need the microphone so because we have such a small group and it's going to be a more intimate evening if everybody could kind of scoop together become friends a little bit talk to the table um that way we get some people to come in a little later they can scoot into the back but uh first off we thank you guys for all showing up today we're gonna have a really good conversation with border Chief Chris Congress from Laur Le we got some fantastic food from Chef Gan one of my Idols for a long time so I hope everybody to enjoy the food and uh you know want to welcome you guys to this amazing Springs Center here in Lakeland um they've been fantastic they've helped me out a lot we have this great space and just for you guys doing um so my name is I am the Grassroots engagement director for prosity in Tampa Bay uh today like I said we have we're going be talking about four pillars of immigration uh immigration policy has been tremendous Focus for AFP securing our borders is such a priority for our policy efforts the afd partner retired Chief Chris CL uh Chief CL has more than 27 years of experience as an agent on the southern border protecting citizens and upholding the laws of the United States we may recognize him from Fox News and other media Outlets highlighting the real crisis we are facing as a nation Chief CL will walk us through the four pillars of border security and discuss these reform so and there will be time for some questions at the end of our presentation and and you haven't yet um do we have a QR code so we have a QR code that you can scan for the four pillars ebook um also we ask that each of you please take action with us on border security at the end of the presentation today so if you guys don't mind uh please stand for the Alle I FL un States of America stand God indivisible Justice for All um so as I said we have ch PL if You' like to come on up and get started on your program and we have the lovely congresswoman la lee here who's going to be joining us a little bit later to do some discussion yes sir well good evening everybody I can yall hear me absolutely all right let's go without the microphone got get the way here I get to put on my chead and use my command voice and be to talk to everybody okay you me a little better um first of all thank youall for uh taking the time to come out here this evening especially on the college football game I I think it's uh it shows the the support and the opportunity for people to hear what's going on in the border and voice their concerns and their opinions about how we fix it and solve it uh I'm going to make sure that you all hear what's actually uh happening look kind a good Echo fine fine all right um so my my name is Chris Clen I retired about 19 months ago after 272 years as a United States boorder agent I uh I wore the uniform up until the day I retired until I had to take the badge off and turn in my weapon and uh I served all across the Southwest border I served in Washington DC ORS Louisiana and then back in uh in Arizona and eventually uh was the deputy chief Patrol agent for El Paso sector which covers West Texas in Mexico and then finally in 2020 was uh appointed as a chief patol of Y Arizona um I did that for just over two years and I can tell you that it was uh I retired 5 years early because some of the things that were happening in this current Administration and the impacts that was going on to the border and basically undermining reversing what was for my career 25 years of progress and success built off the blood sweat tears of of bir ws and just it was a complete betrayal to the American people I was like I was not going to have my Integrity question I wasn't going to have myself in my career tarnished by uh by a Administration that was not working for the people I um I served as a patrol agent charge at four stations I've worked as a can Handler a Firearms instructor and intelligence agent i' I've stayed out in the desert for days and time on uh on Special Operations uh i' I've encountered known terrorists drug smugglers armed Saros cartel members I have rescued lives I have found dead bodies I have been in countless on hour Pursuits and um and I've actually been there we're giv CPR a make it and having to make that death occation um which is the toughest but the highest honor anyone can do is give an American flag to a fallen officer or agent and uh I tell you all this not to not to you know do my own horn or or try to sound bra but to tell you when I talk about what I'm about to tell you this is where it comes from this is the lens that I'm viewing all this from and I'm very passionate about border security because it's Public Safety it's National Security it's about taking care of everything is within our borders I like start off by saying you know we have locks on our front doors we have locks on our bedroom doors our bathrooms we live in G some people live in gated communities but when we talk about putting a lock on the front door of this country it becomes a problem it becomes digic and xenophobic and racism and all these things when all we're trying to do is control who and what and where they come in to makeing sure that we're safe I refer to that as tall fences and wide Gates which is you know something something that was spoken back in 2008 primary by the late great Senator Fred Thompson from Tennessee when asked about this 2008 talking about border security and immigration so that tall fences is the metaphor for securing order the wide Gates is for those lawful Pathways to make sure that we have the right people coming in that we are encouraging lawful trade travel and commerce and tour and all the things that make America great that encourage us to continue to grow and prosper and that proper immigration system so that we have the right people so that if people truly are being persecuted and being tortured and actually having a reason to be here to use the the system for good to use the American dream as a Beacon of Hope not to explore it take advantage of it and receive benefits and then call their brother and say come on cuz that's what's happening right now they've abused that system that was put in place to make America good to make the America prosper and to save those that need America for those that don't know I want to make sure you understand the roles and responsibility of War control we're not immigration officers we have immigration Authority we can determine citizenship and nationalities and we can process cases we have all the authority our job is border security it's about stopping interdicting and arresting anything in anyone that crosses illegally into the United States between two boards of itory anything and anyone that crosses that is a crime there is a vice president sitting in the white house that doesn't think it should be a crime or is Criminal well it's been on the book since 1927 it's been a criminal code and been prosecuted since 1929 a USC 1325 one of the things that been and is is the process and when you hear about the immigration system being backlog and the problems of a broken immigration system those problems are very compounding a lot of them have done purposeful by poor policy makers and people up there unelected bureaucrats making decisions when Bol catches somebody we have we take two hats we can prosecute you criminal for crossing IL legally or any other the crime part of or we can take an administrative action and remove you and put you in Immigration proceeding to get you removed from the country you're from Mexico you can send you right back that evening from that or if you're from Canada northern border but if you're a non-contiguous country we have to put you in an immigration removal proceeding you see the judge and you get removed or the judge allows you to St your circumstances well that depends on if you have room at the end and when you have people in office right now that campaign on abolish ice doing away with law enforcement and immigration uh detention that creates a problem you know I going to talk about this here in a moment but on day one of the Biden haris Administration we began a series of 94 executive orders we'll talk about some of the other pieces real but one of those was reducing the I capacity is is the agency that takes the people we done processing and gets them into their immigration hearing and removal if necessary also reduce Private Security Contracts for detention outside of government if we didn't have a government facility we were we needed to have those contracts so ended private contracts that not only hurt our immigration attention but also hurt our criminal are us marals in have places to be the good people that were pending their case or for being the T so there there's a whole bunch of comp issues when they turn around and start making these crazy executive orders I'll get back to that in a moment it seems simple but it's very important to describe the border patrols operating environments because it's going to play into when we talk about requirements border controls defined three operating environments which we operate in and it's based on the vanishing point the egress out the Border House can get further into the country an urban environment seconds to minutes people can disappear seconds to minutes we have to do everything that we can possibly do to slow that down they heat it and stop it that's where the wall makes sense sometimes double wall makes sense anybody ever been to El Paso Texas in the room I know I have asked this a few times those places let me tell you El Paso is one of the it is the largest International city in the world El Paso and Warz and that General region over 3 million 4 million people and that is it means you got everything to offer so a lot of people come there but in El Paso you can cross the river and with second to be in downtown El pass blend in within a few minutes you can even get your way to Interstate 10 you can cross the border Highway which is about 100 yard north of the Border cross the four lane Highway High School in an apartment complex in a neighborhood the University of Texas El Paso you where the sunb is less than a mile from the real ground River so there's a college campus right there you can disappear seconds to minutes you get to the rural areas just outside the urban environments there some you know degress roads and ground sing from the border it may take a minutes to hours to get there and so we still need that infrastructure to help slow it down and give agents to tical Advantage but it's minutes to hours and we have a pretty good tactical plan for that and then you get to the remote areas it's literally hours to days places in West Texas New Mexico Arizona there are a lot of places where people will walk for days before they can get to a deess area maybe the wall doesn't make as much sense in those locations but that's where technology comes in whether it's cameras or sensors or even drones or maybe a different type of wall maybe that's where and we've seen that success where we put like a vehicle barrier sty vehicle so people can just drive across the desert and get to that deep restaurant but what I'm getting at is those are requirements that are for border patrol to do their job and every sector every sector is different every sector that we have nine on the Southwest border eight on the northern border and three on the coastal right here in in Miami sector we can't apply the same resources and and responses in Miami as we would in Mallen Texas or Yuma Arizona and so if we've been to one sector and we know the congressman has been to uh multiple sectors and they're different what she needs Chief Chavez in Rio Grandy Valley needs is different than what I needed in you and so as a representative of the people here that goes to Washington you cannot apply the same cookie cutter response that typically comes out of Washington because what one Chief needs in one sector is not right other side the threats are different the geography is different the demographics are different the the the resources are different it makes a difference so that's why it's so important that we listen to the agents and their requirements and what they need from the ground up and I'm telling you that we've had that going in the previous administration and then it's falling on De years every Encounter of an illegal entry the bardal has to respond it is the only agency in this whole enfor immigration enforcement Continuum or federal law enforcement Continuum that can say can't say no we watch it we have to do everything we can to arrest it you know what if I catch a a smoking case and I think I have a good criminal case I call investigations ice investigations different than attention but ice investigations and say I got a good case you're like we don't we don't think so we don't have a response they can say no so we're stuck with it we actually have an immigration case and we say hey we need to detain this person because you know he's a single adult male oh we don't have room for that you have to release them we can catch 500 lb of marijuana we call the D and like yeah it doesn't me our threshold we don't have a we don't have a agent to respond what I'm getting at is even if we just want to prosecute somebody attorney's office say we don't think it's uh it meets enough we not just resemble illegal Crossing if there was any other elements of the crime may take it and we're L War controls a lot kind of stuff hand back back that's that's a big problem when you see these second thir effects about defunding and reducing the capacity and not prioritizing things is that when it hits that border we stuck holding it everybody that we catch we have to turn them over to somebody and somebody says no or we don't have room because it hasn't been funded or they redirected money from the executive that was that was approved by uh the legislative branch and they use it to other pet projects that's when you lose attention you lose space and that becomes a pull factor and the congresswoman and I were talking a little bit about that T I want to make sure people understood when uh when you see some of these ridiculous things that come out about you know why it's important to end Catch and Release if there are no consequences if there is no deterrence what is keep keep somebody from crossing the border illegally if they know that they're going to spend a few days with boorder control be housed be fed given medical opportunities get their clothes laundered have two hot fields and and uh and be able to uh be released because there's no detention capacity and a non-g organization is going to pay for their ticket and fly them somewhere into a sanctuary City who's going to take care of them where's the chance where's the incentive to not come if you're not the indust life if you want to do better you think hey I can come over and make some false claim and it'll be a couple years before I get a hearing to adjudicate that I'm coming and that's what's happening and everybody we catch we have to deal this and that takes money it takes man hours away and when we were dealing with large numbers and I'll talk specifically to Huma there were times where we had four people on the border covering 126 miles but we were stuck carrying processing up to 5,000 people in detention just in one second alone so that was by Design because the cartels do we can sink this area we will tie up the resources and we'll come in someplace else the people that we should be going after no because the agent stand are tied 500 people on the ground th000 people on the ground and 3 or 4,000 people the process it's a big problem now I want to tell you that go bit of a history lesson 1994 State of the Union Address President Clinton was talking to the United States about illegal immigration and borderers SEC gr he talked about commissioning Barbera Jordan the congresswoman and do a study on the impacts of migration legal and illegal we talk about the 1994 crime passing was going to put 100,000 police officers on the street to include border guards that's his quot quote you can YouTube it you can see it so 1994 Clinton was pushing for border security I was hired and entered on duty in 1995 under President every Administration I worked for and I work for five of them did something positive and Progressive that was going to and I use Progressive in a good way you making progress to help us secure our board I was hired in mclinton he was pushing for more boardy we had 911 huge strategy World game changer but it also recognized what we needed to do that immigration had a national security risk and open border or porous border was going to cause more problems so Bush started our first national security plan both for National Security but also from the border controls perspective we started our first plan of personnel technology infrastructure we started building infrastructure in the form of uh uh vehicle barriers and updating old Landing map good ERA Landing map that was used to be a fence in California parts of Arizona replacing that with baller steel actually reinforcing the Border making a lot of sense in a lot of progress even President Obama because he wed comprehensive Immigration Form negotiated and made deals with with Congress to make sure that he secure the Border we built hundreds of miles of wall under President the 15t wall but it was wall it was making a difference things got kind of messed up in the negotiations and and uh and ultimately the last few years of the Obama Administration the the priorities of deportation and border security were um were changed because of executive actions that he made one of those famous cell phone and and the pin calls um moving daaka and Dappa and a bunch of you know family unification things that on face value on face value makes sense to a lot of people but mother and father came over here and brought their 2-year-old child this child was raised in the United States and end up going to public school and graduated nothing more than just got pulled across the river by their parents why are we removing that kid I think there's some reasonableness I say everybody but there's some reason for us to have a conversation on but what happened was that was a pull factor people saw that as if just get into the United States will'll be allowed to stay here the demographics changed 20134 what was used to be and for decades what we encountered in the Border especially in the Southwest border were single adult Mexican Nationals 90% of the people we caught were single adult Mexican Nationals that were coming over here for work usually day work agriculture work roofing work some of those hard labor jobs and they would stay for 9 months out of here and then go back home sometimes to stick around and do some seasonal work that's that's what we counted it was a mouse G we had some bad actors we had the the drug smuggers and the true bad you know you know uh gang members they came across but for the most part it was single adult Mexican Nationals few Central Americans and occasionally get somebody from around the world but in 134 things changed we started seeing the influx of familys unaccompanied children mainly Central Americans coming in we started seeing uptake of people from you know Haiti and Cuba and South America coming up here and that's when you had CID Trump talking about the Border because the Border had made so many headlines you were seeing the images of what was going down in MA Allen the sallyport just hundreds of people and kids in myar blankets there was a problem there so when Trump was running he made up the slogan build the wall right we're going to build the wall made a lot of sense it was a great rally call build a wall build a wall but what it was for board tra was every require that we needed that we had been working for at that point you know for 20 years of my career hey progress was being made and all of a sudden it halted now you have a president that's a person running for president say we're going to finish this deal we're going to shut this water down there are bad people coming in we're going to end this we're going to end these people you know um that were uh you know living off the system and when it became president Trump he he basically said let's build the wall what's going to take and every second was ready with their plan it was more than the wall people it was the wall where it made sense it was lights cameras access roads sensors policies everything that delivered consequences to people that are violing law and just so you know not every place in the Southwest border can even get to the Border because the roads are so bad they're maintained by ranchers and and farmers and one bad Monsoon storm like we're dealing with right now in Arizon wash out an entire area as can't get to the Border do so the all weather access roads were so important and we were making a difference numbers D dropped dramatically agents were able to provide a consequence we saw that Source countries in the in the migration had kind of died down because policies like the migrant protection protocol of verain Mexico were put in place that were closing loopholes for those that were trying to take advantage of our Asylum system and then there was an election and President Biden took over and on day one begin sign those executive orders and one of them was stop the wall that stopped the wall contract not only did it or ex not only it end the actual installation the completion of the wall that was being built it stopped the light system the camera system the sensor system system it access roads it ended he then ended remain in Mexico he canceled deportations put them on hold for no less than 100 days he ended private uh uh security detention facilities reduced ice capacity by 50% third the save third party which by the way they just implemented again to some extent um all that took place within the first 90 days I there was a total of 94 executive orders that was a welcome act rolled out by the White House and just so people know that it's not just be talking the number back it up 2019 we had 900,000 just over 900,000 arrest busy year 2020 45,000 arrests mean just plumed 2021 after the election after all the things I just said this for year 21 we with 1.66 million rest it went from 400,000 to 1.6 million 2022 it went up to 2.2 million stay about that same range in 23 and we're finishing this year right now we're well over 1.5 let's just War but overall at the ports everything that was inadmissible and legal entry to to be over 2 million at the end of this year this will be the third busiest out of the four years of the bid Administration so while they're out there taking a Victory lap and doing all let's not foret it is still a record break year and it impacts every one of us there is no more room at the end people are being let go in they coming to your communities I will uh I will tell you this not only did I talk about numbers that we' arrested we're talking about talk about goway Senate budget office excuse me Congressional budget office said during a senate hearing the numbers that were reported so far under this Administration through I think it was April was 1.8 million God ways when you cross the border there's three options you get arrested you go back south of Mexico or you get away and a god away is somebody that we detected we just didn't resolve it so we don't know who they are but statistically speaking we know there some bad people in there over 375 terrorists in the last couple years of this Administration compared to 14 that ENT in the the Trump Administration the criminal numbers over 2,000 criminal noncitizens have been encountered by border patrol and CBP just border patrol under the B Administration compared to 21,000 to be a be a CRI considered a Criminal Alien you have to have a conviction a record here in the unit States or a record somewhere else where we have a relationship to where we share information so that means these are people that have been caught convicted removed and came back in over 52,000 every Criminal category that CDP which is customs and board Protection Agency every criminal category they monitor has gone up 25 to 50% under this Administration that's immigration cases drug cases assault cases sexual assault cases murder drunk driving and other crimes statistically speaking that is in your God ways we are seeing that play out not only people that have been caught release but there are people showing up around the country that are committing pous crimes that should even be here while we are dealing with the massive humanity and we are having uh you know our agents tied up doing things even our Port officers tied up doing that's a cre vulnerability for things like the crisis that's created that's happening in this country we're doing a good job of catching it especially in Arizona but anybody that's in law enforcement knows if you write 10 speed tickets you just wrote 10 speeding tickets you didn't stop speeding you just stop 10 Speeders we caught 265,000 fentanyl pills we just caught that many that just tells you that there's that much coming in we got to do a better job we got to figure how do we shut down from coming from China how do we cooperate hold Mexico county to keep that poison coming over here overwhelming communities is is killing people it's a plane crash a day 300 people Ding A day we had a plane crash a day we shut down the airline industry and figure it out but for some reason we're not we're not taking that same approach when it comes down to the Border in securing it or China or Mexican cartels there's been um I want to make sure that we have the congresswoman and I have plenty of time to to have our Round Table discussion and Q&A so I'm going to jump through some things but I want to hit on a few a few things I will never broad Rush demographic or race or culture it's unfair it's not right it's not how we are and the would money might do it to near this country but it is a matter of fact that China is our biggest geopolitical foe right now 2020 there was 450 Chinese Nationals approx 450 Chinese Nationals apprehended entering the country legally on the Southwest border last year was over 24,000 by June it was already over 24,000 so approximately 50,000 Chinese National have been apprehended the Southwest border in the last 2 years and you don't just get to leave China you don't get to just go to the travel agency or you have to kind of be allowed to leave China and they're flying directly directly into Mexico and then working their way into the Border a lot of them been comeing out in the California area and they'll be in process I'm not saying every one of them are bad and probability is that 99% for good it's that 1% of those that could be subject to coercion that can create a threat to this country China's playing a long game they're the ones that are providing the majority of the SS come in here and K they're not going to beat us militarily right now know what they play a marathon and not a Sprint they can chip away while we're arguing pronouns and and and and who can go to what bathroom they're building capacity around the world and neighbor to the South South America as well but we got to look at that if there was 50,000 solders Point our Bo with guns we would do something that but why we allow this to happen in this manner is is is U unknown to me I will um I will tell you this Florida knows this and I I hope I don't t or hurt a feeling but I'm going to use a cat five hurricane as an example of what's happened when it comes to our border this Administration was the fun of that storm destruction Panic chaos what we're experiencing right now in the last month or two because of the the fourth quarter of the election season is the I where it's a little calm it's a little clear and even may even see some blue sky but you know and I know cuz I grew up on the backside of that hurricane is the dirtiest of the nastiest and can be devastated and that's what would happen if we continue with these type of policies and this type of administration moving forward that has said we're going to welcome in up to 15 million more people and we're going to bring in people that have uh been previously reported under other administrations to give them a second by the Apple I mean these are the things that have been put forth by a progressive agenda that is not focusing on securing the border and Public Safety and National Security so keep that in mind and make sure and I'm pretty sure in this room I've got people that are thinking the same way I'm thinking but if you know people if you got B age kids or grandkids or nieces and nephews give them some Sage advice about what is right for this country you want to keep doing having the fun things you want to keep you know having an opportunity you need to make sure you make the right decisions when it's time to vote because what's happening right now especially from our border on up is devastating and it can get worse we absolutely have to secure our I'll tell you that I've partnered with Americans for Prosperity since last June and um and their called the advisor on border security and what what it takes and uh we came up with the four pillars and uh want to talk a little bit about that not too much because I think it makes a lot of sense to a lot of people the first pillar is sec in the Border I mean nothing on immigration reform nothing when it comes down to making any changes the immigration system and security of the United States starts if we don't give a secure border because that is the fundamental integrity and the framework of the immigration system I think it may have been one of y's fresman congressman from the state correct if I'm wrong compared this border to this border crisis to LS Ellis Island was 12 million people over 60 years and we boarded the ship before it even got to the harbor and we quarantined people and we separated didn't have sponsors didn't have documentation didn't have the paperwork and if they did and they were sick they wouldn't even allow in they until they were better and then we process people in we've let that many people plus the Goda ways in in 3 and A2 years this is no LS so we've got to secure the border and we've got to harden the ports and we've got to make that the first and foremost thing so we can keep this country safe we also need to make sure that if we do not I want to make this very clear if we do not have the workforce or the people in this country that are necessary to continue growth and prosperity whether it's in business whether it's in agriculture whether it's in Academia and research we need to be able to attract andain the best and bright because we're losing that battle with countries like China and around the world we need to make sure on that third pillar is about clear Pathways to make sure there it makes sense no one's going to read an 800 page Visa change or how do you come to United States we need to really make this smart and clear so people understand and the reason why that's so important is because when someone doesn't understand it makes them vulnerable makes them exploitable and that's what's happening right now with people from around the world being told of book of lives a bill of goods oh yeah we come over the United States and let you stay so they pay the money to a smun and they get exploited and if they're lucky if they lucky they get in if they're unlucky they get put in trafficking and they get sold into slavery or prostituted or even organ harvesting things like that that are occurring they're definitely going to get assault along the way because theyve got put in the pipeline because they didn't understand the rules so we've you got to clear up those Pathways to make sure that people have the right ways to come in here and then absolutely unequivocally wouldn't agree to these pillars if there wasn't a consequence for people that abused the system and exploited the system and exploited people so if you're smuggling somebody and we catch you you're trafficking somebody we catch you and you're using our system there is a consequence and lastly on the pillars is probably the most difficult cuz I think the first three are attainable where there's a will where there's a power where we the people demanded of our officials we can get those three done the fourth one is transparency especially from our DHS about what's happening at our border and what's impacting American lives cuz I can tell you and I've been quoted on multiple times on major networks this Administration is more about securing their narrative than securing the border and that's what they do because they're selling you a bill of goods on what's Happening down there as like kind of wrap up my uh formal remarks I want to just close on a couple current events so I want to talk about some of the latest and greatest things that have happened you hear people talk about the bipartisan Senate bill that was blocked that was the toughest bill in decades showing up in a lot of advertisement you're hearing it on radio and TV and at certain conventions if you tuned in but I can tell you that that was not a border security bill that was an immigration and migrant facilitation bill it did nothing to secure the Border what it did is ensure and codify in law the amount of people that would be accepted to apply for Asylum every day of course over a 7day average if it reach 2500 over 7 days then and I think actually in the bill it was 2500 over 7 days anyway it basically said you can send this many people across actually you can send an infinite number of of people across but once we hit 2500 they couldn't apply for asy they'd have to you know go back to the end of the line and they would they would have to go through a proceed but the first 2500 we were good that's not border security that's a pull factor that's rushing to get to the border and waiting in line to cross you or or or do something to that fact it did not do anything about policies that gave consequences it added a few more bage raises we up to 1,500 War trades let me tell you something the last budget cycle that I was helped building up in 2020 for the 23 year episc year 23 we asked for 3,000 to 5,000 border ches President Biden gave us 300 didn't even keep up with attrition that year so500 2000 whatever was in that build it's not wasn't our require we needed much more than that the one thing it did do though was added capacity back to ice 50,000 beds average daily population but guess what that's what they started with that's what they cut so that Senate bill was weak it didn't send any additional resources to support board control you hear the talking point oh it's for uh technology to help detect F all ports they already have the technology it's there they've just taken operations money and the maintenance money and moved it to their pet projects because that gives a little bit of latitude to the executive the way Appropriations were written but the money is there they just use it now they're just bling somebody else they added more overtime pay for order ches for a higher rate of pay let me tell you they just don't want to work overtime processing releasing people they burn out because they've had to processed 10 million people over the last three and a half years it's a nice gesture but again that's a bandaid on open wound there was nothing in there that was shutting things down and there was some more immigration judges they were adding and some more uh um immigration Asylum application or Asylum Personnel to help facilitate everything is about Mak this fion nothing about stopping the FL hr2 that was passed by the house thank you has been sitting on sher's desk for about 19 months now that was a tough border security bill because other than section one which is definitions is typical in a house bill the next four or five sections said finish the wall construction reinstitute Rania Mexico hire more portal trades put up a wall put up a technology plan hold people accountable the first four or five sections of that bill were about security no fluff just get it done wasn't attached to Ukraine funding it was about getting it done to take care of the American people and it's been sitting there in the Sen's desk the sen Leader's desk for 19 months that was a tough B security bill that was at least the fundamental Foundation this should started for the started on secur Border sicken me when President Biden came out with a big old back said Joe Biden secure the order when he gave out his executive orders which did nothing but kind of facilitate what I was talking about allow people to come in um you hear right now the Victory lap kind of that eye of the storm that I was talking about that this is the lowest numbers we've had since Trump all right now Trump's the the bar the measuring of success is is 50,000 arrest by Border patol in a month thought he didn't know what he was doing thought those were terrible policies now it's the measuring stick of success so they're bragging about 56,000 arrests in the month of July the lowest since September of 2020 I think former Obama Biden secretary DHS secretary J Johnson said a thousand a day is a crisis I know what 2,000 or 3,000 day would be we've been living that for 3 and A2 years 56,000 a day you do the math real quick is about 18800 or 1900 a 56,000 a month is 19900 the rest of the day it's crazy but here's what they're not telling him is it was actually 170,000 inadmissible people came into the United States border in the month of July 56 of them cross 56,000 cross legally that were apprehended by border 66,000 were paroled and flown into the United States by an unlawful and abused parole system that this Administration has been using to include some uh uh several thousand from the northern border and 47,000 indivisible a showed up at the PT of Entry got on the cbp1 app on their phone and scheduled a hearing so they were allowed in now border patrol is released about 55% right now of what they catch because we can't hold women and children so that tells you about 45% of the single adults are coming in and they're you're most likely being held by ice for a few days anyway and then get released but my fuzzy ma tells me that's about 130,000 of the 170,000 that came in last month that were caught and released let go in the United States so when they're bragging about all the success they're misleading you and lastly you see a lot of ads about how the vice president is they shut down the tough B they shut down the tough bers existing when they took office but I think it's pretty interesting you see her in ads with Trump's wallet you know um that they stopped so any AD you see where there's a strong Ballard wall in the top part has got a what we call the anti clim panel that was built under the Trump Administration it's 30 ft tall it's exactly what the B said what they needed so I find it kind of interesting that that is happening here I will say this as I turn it over to our congresswoman and we're going to panel a little bit on a little fireside chat is that do not allow immigration and border security to be conflated because that's the problem we need to start with securing the borders to keep America safe to keep our community safe to keep our children safe border security is National Security that's more than just a hashtag that you see on social media every town is a Border Town if we don't have a secure border that is playing out in real time across this country country every state will become a border state without a secure border so I would again implore you to make very sound decisions in uh in this upcoming election to make sure that you hold your elected officials even at the state level all the way up to the uh Federal level to make sure that they back secure in the Border because our country depends on it it's the most important thing that our government can do is protect its people and it starts with securing the Border number figure out figure out the right way to continue to make this country be a Beacon of Hope for those that want to come to our Shores and truly be in person who do and torture that need our help so I'm going to wrap up my comments there and then I'm going to turn it over to Lance who's going to kind of formalize what the Congress and I will be doing so thank you all for being here on the game apprciate you coming out um so that we're going to move into our discussion part of the panel so Chief if you have seat at the table and I'd like to welcome our Congress Congressman La lez uh was sworn in office United States House of Representatives on January 3rd 2023 she proudly represents the 15th District of Florida which encompasses Eastern Hillsboro County including the NASA I hope I said that City and Brandon as well parts of Pas F including z I will tell you in 2022 I had the honor of knocking a whole bunch of doors for her when we adors her so I'm so happy to have her here congresswoman Laur [Music] Le you thank you so much for coming out today well it's my pleasure to be here tonight and I want to start by thanking you all so much for spending your evening with us uh this is without question one of the most critical issues that we are facing today in Congress and in America and one of the things that we have worked on so I I've been in office now we're going on about 18 months and one of the things that we have worked on week in and week out most weeks I go up to Washington DC and fly up on a Monday maybe get home on a Thursday and while we're there uh one of our most important function is Congressional oversight that we have the authority to bring in Witnesses Like Chief cl to bring in people who are seeing these problems firsthand who can give us the information that we need to show the American people so that they know what matters and they know what they need to be thinking about when they go to vote but the other thing that republicans in Congress were really committed to uh in this Congress was that we understand that the very best way to to see a problem to get the best perspective on it sometimes is to go to it so for me in the Judiciary Committee uh we had a focus on V crime so I've traveled to New York and I've traveled to Chicago we had field hearings on V crime I sered on the task force investigating the assassination at time president counil I've been to B Pennsylvania I'm going back to B Pennsylvania again tomorrow and when it comes to the Border we've gone over and over again I've had the opportunity to go to Evil path to go to the to actually spend time talking to border patrol agents First Responders teachers ranchers people who live in these communities who can share with us how it's been affecting them those stories are absolutely the most important thing we can be conveying to the American people so Chief clim touched on so many things that are critical to understand first and foremost that uh Congress republicans in Congress have been working on this problem since day one of the 118 Congress and we passed the strongest board bill in a generation and sent it to the Senate where it continues to sit Within action the so-called border compromise bill which incidentally never passed the Senate never came to the house there was never anything for us to vote on that bill was 300 pages long over 300 pages long and the first 100 Pages didn't have anything to do at all with the border so what Chief Clum told you is absolutely right so with that I know we've got some questions in mind we want to go through but I thank you so much for being here I know so many of you in this room and we're fortunate to be joined today with Community leaders uh thought leaders political party leaders in our community and you all are the people who have the ability to go and tell your friends and neighbors uh to go tell uh the people that your children go to school with the people you worship with the people that you work with tell them what youve heard here tonight and tell them what you know about this issue and how we can solve it together so I'm just very grateful to for your time I that happy to take first question thank you so much uh so we will start with Congress Le and chief CL will have you kind of follow up on that and we really want to dive deep take a few minutes to really think about uh you know these are pretty Top Line questions but just kind of dig in deep as to uh kind of what the details are uh so Congress Le what has Congress been able to do or has been limed to do with the current policies in place sure so the biggest things uh We've touched on tonight first we did in fact pass a very strong border security Bill Bill Early in this Congress uh but we don't have Partners in the Senate willing to take it up and debate it uh second was oversight that we have brought Witnesses we've brought word forance we've lost we've brought the families who have lost children who have lost spouses uh to violent crime as a consequence of our open border or lost uh loved ones due to crial poisoning uh to tell those stories and make sure that we were getting the information that we needed as Congress to have and the information that we needed to share with the American people and the culmination of all of that work and all of that oversight ultimately was a vote to impeach uh Homeland Security secretary Alejandra morcus I served as one of the impeachment managers in the House of Representatives so spent a lot of time working on uh building the case building the facts and the evidence that led to the support for that vote to impeach him and you know that included both really his willful def of the law that time and again he knew what our laws Just Like Chief said our laws are on the books already that make these things are crime and secretary mayoras knowing that made policy decisions again and again and again not to inforce our laws which when he raised his hand and took that oath was not his decision to make anymore uh so that uh that willful Defiance of the law he said courts tell him that his policy decisions are unlawful and unconstitutional uh persistent to pursue that that path and ultimately his actions and inactions created what we believe was a sound factual and legal basis for impeachment and so that's that's what we did another thing that's important to understand in the current landscape of dialogue so and chief did a great job talking about this President Biden made a decision through executive order as soon as he took office to suspend the policies that we know are working so right now without any action by Congress he has the power to undo those same policies so for three and a half years he has had the ability to go back to those policies chose not to chose to give us the crisis that we face today simultaneously Congress can try to pass laws to eliminate that authority to say okay we see that you've let go of the wheel here you're not handling it so we are going to make sure that the law catches all of this contct that the law makes clear what you must do and that's what we try to do with hr2 but when they stand up and tell you that the reason we have a border crisis is because Republicans didn't take up this compromise compromise first of all again Chief right that was not a border security bill that bill dealt with a lot of things including foreign aid and Nos and all sorts of things that nothing to the secur the Border but it is absolutely false and and and to a point that is just ludicrous to suggest that anything to do with our present crisis at the southern border is related to uh that policy concept that didn't end up taking group do you have any follow for the specific policies that been passed should be going to be funny I was to say I uh I got to tell you I was U I don't want to talk back to the Congress she she made this really good points but I I was very grateful when uh you know they actually went through with impeachment my or knowing that it was you know was not probably going to get you know Tak by the but it cified what was going on I had relationship with my orc since 2013 and um it was always like the uh remember the old ly Tunes with the sheep dog and the the wolf morning Ralph morning Sam that's how it was every morning when I went to The Knack which is the old DHS facility was like Warren secretary like Warren Chief CL and then we go at for hours CU I was at the time I was the only GS employee I everybody else was political or senior Executives and they just kind of kept their mouth shut worst thing he was going to do send me back the border which would have been happy for me but I will tell you this uh is is this is all purposeful it's by Design because we had the secure border it was the most secure border that I had been part of for 25 years so as the congresswoman said this was by Design the authorities that the president has because we want to make sure that the executive has some latitude Supreme Court even upheld that a year or so ago that the executive does have the right to make some decisions yeah but we've got to be able to hold them accountable and think that it she did so that's really two on well Chief going continue with you and just kind of want to talk a little bit about the mor of the patrol agents and really how that's being affected and what we can do at the Congressional level that maybe improve that well I can tell you that uh you know I was I was brought up old school that uh you know you go to work to get your job done you get your Ling at home you know uh but and and you know if things were bad things were tough you know he just kind of put some dirt on to get back in there and and that's true to to the extent but but when you are a Purpose Driven person and you take an oath to a Purpose Driven organization and a mission that has uphold the laws of this country and you take an oath the Constitution oath the office and you see that that support that you had especially under commander-in Chief and a president like President Trump who championed theol for the first time inade we were like people knew who we were we didn't like the attention but we appreciate the attention we just want to get to work done and to have to be vilified and demonized and to have the things that were actioned on from all the years like I mentioned when I was talking the years of requirements to finally being an executed Implement to have that all come to a screeching halt by executive orders and then turn a blind eye and leave the boorder patrol underwater holding the back with zero support it took a hit what we thought was an ude the first few months was was end up being we we knew this was driven by Design and I'll will tell you this the lowest of lows and the deepest part where it hit me and even like you know my morale as a chief was like man this sucks pardon me that that's how it felt was Del Rio September 2021 the the horse Patrol incident yes where you had what was an iconic picture of an agent with a hat chaps using the split range to control his horse rounding up and and keeping people out of the river and actually what had happened was there was so much going on that on the Mexican side there was actually food trucks and he that that one particular Aman had gone to get food or a group had gone to get food and the family was coming across the water and this guy went and stole it and the the agent on Horseback went after said hey no no you get over here and prend him that's what he was using the split range to control the horse beautiful photo water guy running the bag in his hand people coming down the hill there was no whips they only use whips those were rains held in a hand by the agent used to control the horse spin it to get the horse to go different directions but the president of the United States pared by the Vice President and the secretary echoed a lie or repeated a lie that those people were whipped the president of the United States said those people strapped they will pay in his fake angry voice right he did that I was a th000 miles away in human I wanted to throw up I had to my my stomach I can't believe the president United States just condemned Mory them like that I felt so sorry for those agents those agents families their wives the kids their parents parents who were up at night wored about their kid going to come home and stfe that night he has a dangerous job and then be called out by the president you want to talk about deflating and already kind of the air was seeping out of the morale it was pushed to a low right then Li it was a deflection and an opportunity to bfy an that would been championed by the previous administration championed by the American people it was also an opportunity to flect of the 16,000 people that had crossed within 72 hours right there in Eagle Pass in a complete embarrassment and a direct example of four failed policies so why not vilify the agency that's what they took because this Administration doesn't take any responsibility let's blame SP see it's those it's those racist bad border patrol agents doing that that's what this Administration did they knew it they knew those were lives we had a rash of suicides over the next year or two across the boorder patrol and CDP record highs you know I I will not ever say that it was the Border crisis that caused it but I will tell you that if you're suffering you're having some kind of issue at home Financial physical a loved one addiction you've done something wrong and you have no place to go and work and that purpose that purpose-- driven mission was what kept you doing the right thing and keeping you going every day and then you have that taken from you and you're in a tough organization as it is it's not easy being in law enforcement there's things we can do to make it better but there's things nothing we can make it easier I think that pushed people over the edge and caused that so what you can do and what we what I specifically did is you know I I started bringing in mental health experts come in and talk former NFL players guys that you know suited up on weekends and battled came in and talked to the men and women of the bort say hey thank you cuz I could go to the mustard and I was feel I'm Mor was though they could smell a rat I wasn't going to be a bunch of B agents that think things are great let's give it the old College try like it's miserable only us can take care of each other so I invested a lot of money and funds out of my operations to make sure that we provided the training and the resources so and I kind of put the message out there you're going to have to roll up your sleeves and get dirty and go do the job but if things are tough come back and let's talk about CU we still have a commitment to that o and we still have a commit to the mission so I would just I would ask the congresswoman I would ask the audience here to and and we've got members of law enforcement back there to obviously thank them for doing a thankless job and support them and encourage the people that hold the budget strings to make sure there's funding there so they can get the support they need because it's not always them it's sometimes it's their loved one at home that's dealing with challenges and that's Weighing on the men and women in uniform you want their head to be on right you want their conscience to be clear you don't want them worrying about something going on home or problems we want to make sure they have help and and and resources so then when if you have to call 911 or if you're in that time of need or we have a threat coming across our board that we got to respond to that their head is in the game so support your men and women in blue and green and whatever uniform they wear we wore green so I always say support the green but make sure that you encourage your appropriators your us uh legislators your local state legislators and your local Mayors and County Commissioners to make sure your Sheriff's Department your police departments and everybody that's doing that job to keep us safe have the resources tring to do their job safely and better but also to make sure that they know they can call for help if they need so thank you I'm glad you brought that up I would actually like to give a hand to the law enforcement officers that back [Applause] whether it's blue or green I always make point to go just thank them for their service and you know me personally there's a little bit of kind of a joke for that um but I I mean it sincerely wholeheartedly because they're the people that keep us safe uh so congresswoman Le uh we talked a little bit about the morale of of these border agents and and what CH thinks that we can do so on a broader scale we're looking at like crime overall uh what are some things that Congress is doing though that can help um you know really the moral you know all the law en sure and so one of the most important things that you know I think that we all of us who have an ability to communicate an ability to speak to the public have an obligation to do is is to make sure that we are uh first of all telling and expressing the truth of the situation know that story about uh those border control agents who were down there on the border and had their actions in that picture so misportrayed that is just tragic in so many ways um first all of all you they what was portrayed was completely false and second so so you know there they are doing their jobs out there working hard every day to keep the American people safe and not only are they not getting credit for that but what we should be saying thank you and appreciating and honoring that service you know they they're right there in the front lines of political argument uh and and and use to spotter in a story that isn't even true so you know the rest of us I think have an extra obligation to be sure that we do speak truth that we do tell those right stories those stories of commitment and courage and and you know I I will um just the other other week when we we had the hurricane come through one of the days when I was in the district I spent the day with uh some of our local firefighters and went out with them on a call spent the day with with talking about uh how they're doing what they need their budgets and and it every single time I wish every American would spend a day with First Responders once in a while because to see what they do just on a given Monday and the things that people that they encounter us in our time of greatest need and without asking a question without a second thought jump in to help us and that's what these men and women on the border are doing every day too they sworn an oath to protect our country to protect our border to protect Americans and we need to be sure that in every single one of these silos we're getting them the equipment they need we're getting them the support that they need we there're enough of them that they can do the thing that we're asking them to do and do it safely and the facilities that are required whether it's a Detention Facility whether it is a command post whether it is a fire truck whatever is the facility that they need that we as appropriators understand what those things are and that we're being good stewards of our budget and providing those necessary tools so you know I think we all have an opportunity to make sure that we're Shining Light on uh on the work that is really being done every day in my background before long before I was in Congress I was a federal prosecutor and a judge so I have a long history of understanding the sacrifices and the extraordinary things uh that men and women who work in law enforcement whether it's at the state local level or federal agents I have many years of working with them and understanding the things that they're doing behind the scenes every day and you know it takes one you know Al work us to frustrate America about an entire agency but the reality is that when you get out of Washington DC and decisions that are being made for political reasons and with political agendas of mind the the men and women who are down here in our community doing this work the men and women who there on the border doing this work are are truly Our Heroes uh I'll stick with you Congress um what are some of the biggest factors that you're running into or that you're seeing Congress run into that maybe we're not quite as aware of or some of the details that maybe um clearly are not being shared in the the mainstream media but um some of the things that you're seeing firsthand in Congress that either we as a community can help with or just that we can be aware of so that we are able to look those stories up sure so I think you know one of the biggest things that's important to to bear in mind is that um over there in the house we did pass the strongest border bill in a generation we have been going down to the southern border to try to raise awareness of China Light on this problem and to try to tell the true story uh not B bias not spin just the reality the data the facts what's really happening down there um but just like hr2 just like the impeachment of secretary mcus when we don't Partners in the Senate that's where it goes to die that's where it all goes to die that's so we can't as much as I wish uh every week that we could we can't make law alone sitting in the house so we need Partners in the Senate and we need Partners in the White House that have shared objectives and goals uh I do believe at this moment in history in the specific woman industry that there is a larger appetite uh across the political Spectrum for solving this problem I attribute that to one thing and one thing only and that is polling and that everyone no matter what political party affiliation they have realizes that bun of America today is outraged at what we see and so there's a growing appetite I do believe uh to try to solve this problem um but I agree with G CL that how we got here how we got here in the last three and a half years has been very deliberate very purposeful uh and and has has just led to announce the disaster so one other thing there and the Imports here can't be overstated that this isn't just a crisis of people that with these people when we decided that we were going to uh just release operational control War the Mexican drug cartel will gladly step in and the crisis of federal trafficking the crisis of human trafficking the things that are coming along with it's not just all of the people that our hospitals and our schools and our shelters can't support you know that in and of itself is is a crisis part but it goes so much deeper than that when we look at the real harm that folks on the ter watch list you know one of them just a few weeks ago came to Tampa flew to Tampa person on the terror watch list so it is an absolute extraordinary alarming threat to our national security every single day so um it is something that we have to keep I believe at the very top priority uh as as weard easier um first of all I want to again and she doesn't need me to putot stop her actions because you can tell she takes care of business but the the F hearings all right I actually testified one just a few months ago with uh speaker Jordan was down there in the Border talking about what was happening and it's about we the people right I mean they need to come down and see what's happening and they're doing that and well the a lot of the Democrats will call that a political stunt the stunt is what's happening at the border you know these are what's these field he hearings are are things that are absolutely necessary so they the audience because not everybody can go to Washington DC and and and be at a heing so coming down there and actually seeing people that have lived it and been exposed to this is important so I I commend Congressman for leading the charge on a lot of that being down there but I'll also tell you the tale of two different Federal prosecutors right so we've got one that's continue to enforce the law and taking up a role as a member of Congress and then you've got one that just got impeached as a secretary who was a former Federal prosecutor he claims he knows what's going on so this is all by Design so I don't know if I'm actually adding anything to it but when she talked about her background made me think about my or's background depending on who you're talking to he's a he's a migrant first generation immigrant and you know we'll talk to the Adison groups about how important that is he's talking to law enforcement he was a federal crer he put bad people in jail then why in the heck are you allowing this to happen on our border he can't even find Common Ground I will I will stop there I'm um so this question is definitely for both of you guys is that working so um if we're able to secure our border and disincentivize illegal immigration what are the next steps to help with safe entry into the US and I Know Chief Clen talked about kind of the comparison between Alice Island and I've heard that quite an often and really how big of a difference there is between what happened then and what happened now so what are the best ways that we can move forward was stri the US so first and foremost is that we have to follow our laws right that's how uh you know we're nation of laws by following them that's how we ensure that people are treated fairly treated equally the people around the world know what to expect you know what our legal standards are uh you know Asylum is something that's supposed to be granted with individually one case at a time based on very specific factors related to a person's circumstances and the home country that they come from and she claims that it very well when you have people by the millions abusing the system it stops working for the people for whom it was intended and that's one of the other tragedies here is that those who actually perhaps needed to use our system use it lawfully use it correctly and there's people around the world that have been waiting years to immigrate legally to our country so the first that we need to do is just just quite simply follow our laws have leaders in Washington and agency heads who are committed to doing that who take your owns of office uh seriously and and really just you know start there in terms of you know how we can be secure and how we can keep our nation safe I will uh I will just kind of add to that only as I spok about a little bit earlier about the clear clarify and clear Pathways it's one of the pillars we talk about there there's a lot of odorous regulations and policies and you got to deal with three or four different federal agencies and you think going to D&D can be bad try to deal with three or four federal agencies that's crazy so we need to be able to make it clear and understandable and resend over overpriced and ridiculous regulations that keep people from making the choice to come over here the right way or getting into the hands of the Smugglers I'll also add that this is based on we're going to get it right and I truly believe we are Americans are fed up and we're going to vote the right way in November I just want to add to that the context here is we got a lot of clean up to do once we get it right and we secure that border we've got victims of trafficking in this country people that are in indented servitude sex slavery all of that is real we've got to go and bail out the water now once we fix the leap so not only do we need to make sure that we secure the border and work on a clear more clear path ways under the rules of the law and we go out there and clean up this mess that was created over the last few years and before we leave that one I just want to follow up that is such an important point a any narrative that suggest it somehow humanitarian that we just throw open our borders and let the world in uh is missing and completely ignoring the reality of what is happening so the people who are crossing the border under the present Lawless circumstances are so often coming in victim to owing huge sums of money or victim to human trafficking or victim to being exploited so the idea that it is somehow uh even even if we were going to set aside for ation of laws and and that's the foundation of our of our future and our national security the idea that we're somehow helping people by becoming Lawless is just completely anly resp yeah okay so Chief CL and congresswoman kind of think about where we're going with us here but I want to hear either the most compassionate or wildest story that you have to share from the board congresswoman i' love to hear there any particular story that has come through your office that you've been able to help out with or someone that has just really been out story to share so we'll start with she's okay uh I've been asked this a few times a few different ways and uh and there's a few different examples that I got but we've talked about some just some tough stuff tonight and uh difficult stuff especially when we kind of dance around the human trafficking be and exploitation of people so I'm going to go with what is I think if I can't if I can't make a laugh or make a joke about myself that what good is to live life right you got to got got to play on yourself so this is actually a pretty funny story it goes back many years I was a dog animal one of the best I mean I had some fancy titles I had plenty of like shiny stuff I had a couple stars on my collar and bunch of stars down my jacket but the best job I ever had was a boorder patrol can because that was just me and my dog you know and he listened to me I'm like gra the people I let on so um this was back 1999 so we're going 25 years I was working lburg New Mexico and we had a a pretty good known dop Trail and back then the the drug of choice was this backpack of marijuana and we had this was near pus New Mexico the old belp do smelter was you can see it for 25 miles you know 360° and so people would would walk towards that smelter they parallel the smelter train tracks and there was a couple highways that they could deliver go to and there was we had quite a few sensors out there and we knew traditionally what was the just the the labor Trails were just the migrs going to look for the Farms or was this a dope Trail well one evening about right at Sunset there was three of us working the entire boo but we had an operation going on with New Mexico National Guard they were flying around with their Night Vision Night outs uh so they could you know just fly Ste and see everything again it was 25 years ago things are much more Hightech but the sensor went off first set of sensors went off and I was working in the general area I was like okay well I'll listen for the followup cuz we always had a primary secondary and tertiary especially knowing that they can and they just take one left and go a different aoo or up a different mountain pass so I'm I'm still working my traffic where I was and and I and I heard the second sensor I was like okay this is going to be a good dope Trail I'm going to head that way so I I knew I had about 30 minutes to get there I radioed to the the uh the National Guard that was flying over and said hey gave the they had they knew the location and they said we'll head out that way so we coordinate so I get to the where I'm going to have to get out of the vehicle with my dog and I'm talking to the the Hilo and we're kind of coordinating he says I'm going to we're going to go up high and we're going to look we hear that tertiary signal go off I'm like all right so they're probably about 10 minutes to my South and should be about 200 yard directly to my West I didn't have any night vision cuz we didn't want equi with all that at that time it was just me and my dog and U his name was Onyx he was a Shepherd mix and U so the chopper is flying and I can hear him and he said and they're flying they're talking to me and I had the dog on leash and the plan was when they saw the subjects and me in the same grid through their scul which mean we were probably 100 yards away I would let the dog loose and they would turn their night sun off the big light like okay so I'm doing the best I can trying to be quiet they're trying to get close and they they're like okay we got the we got the heat Source it's it's right there in front of you keep going uh they're underneath a tree I'm all right I said fly around to see if there's anything else out there cuz I I was the only one out there my backup was you know in the air or you know about 20 mi apart and uh they they do a circle they're like no that's it that's all we see is the heat it's 100 yards in front of you let us know I said well I'm going to let the dog loose you know I'm talking quiet I'm not having this loud conversation and uh and so I let the dog loose I give him his command and he takes off and I said as soon as you see the dog light it up and he's I hear him say he's on it he's on them he's on them and they light up and I'm running as fast as I can and I get hit with the most God awful smell that I ever smelled before that was a bloated cow that they had seen I don't know if you know what a dog does when it runs especially a patol dog runs up and sees a Flo of dead animal it likes to jump on it its instincts kick in and it likes to jump on things and roll in things and it bursts that cow and I mean oh my gosh now my dog and he is so happy he's got in he's just tongue out this is great dad and I'm just oh it was putrid I didn't know what to do and I told and they're like oh hey you all right down there I'm like yeah it was a dead cow where where did the group go and uh and they like we don't know so they lit up and they went about A4 Mile and there was actually more cows on the trail it was the cows Tri s but this was one that they weren't going to the dead cow they went around it but my dog did so I had to call him back I didn't put the leash on it I'm like come on buddy come on and now I had to get I had a Jeep Cherokee that's all I had so it was a small it wasn't these fancy can9 rides now it was an old Berry kennel strapped down inside the the back seat that was laid down I get him into the Jeep and he's just I'm like my head's out the window driving I forcing enough to have a cell phone and I lived in a ranch about 10 miles from where I was and I hated to do this cuz I knew would make my wife nervous but I called her and I said everything's fine don't ask any questions but could you put the Dawn and some pinea out there on the porch and she's like what happened I like well this don't come out till I tell you and of course I had to Bath in and hose off the inside of the truck and then the Jeep and all that stuff but um again it was I had all over me too you know he's all proud you know he's going to come up up on me and all that uh so I I I made a point of uh when I met with that Chopper crew that they need to you know get their eyes examined a little bit but anyway I I that was again a little self-deprecating humor that I had to deal with this dog that was a complete mess and spent another hour cleaning out the kle and you know I can still smell that to this day that was 25 years ago so I hope that y'all find the humor because I we talk about dark things when we were dealing with and that was a you know just something that again 25-year-old story that still resonates with me today is a funny one well I tell you I I love a good and working dog and so I'll give you just a quick one for my my federal prosecutor days I had I had invited a guy for robing a bank and it was a case where everything that could possibly go wrong did the bank surveillance camera is not working the teller was so nervous she couldn't identify the guy I mean there was we had nothing except for a dog and and the dog you know came in got the scent found the guy you could tell it was the same the entire way we made so I believe serves I think that was a case and working save the day there's a bank rubber still bar good J uh so I'll say just the kind of the most surprising thing I've seen it just was such a stark experience one of the trips I took down to the Border was with the speaker of the house and so we had this delegation of members of Congress standing there with the speaker of the house and while we're standing there at the border people are talking River and just walking up into America and to see that to see that that's actually what is happening every single day with all of them standing here bearing winess just really I used to work on a dairy odly in Butler psylvia but that smell never very thing and and as the Congress mentioned the dog's the best thing I mean that that was they never gave me any lip all I had to do was pet them give them food and and and it was it was my best partner there I I I worked in for little over three and a half years he was an older dog when I got it but he was a family pet for seven years till he finally had to put down for a working dog live over 12 years that pretty Prett impress so I'm going to reference about for the next question we've all seen the CH this ch um in fact he actually said he was going to sleep with it last night was a little we his press conference but uh talking about that chart talking about those numbers uh we're currently seeing more than 2 million yearly illegal Crossings have you seen it ever be this high before or do you see this as a newer Trend or is it something that we can amend pretty quickly this is new record highs and uh during this Administration it is it's just uh a stunning departure from from history and the numbers that we have seen in the past and but I do think on the is abely because we saw president and it's just that he came in and prioritize policies like building the wall which is the physical structure that makes it easier to secure that border when you can't have an agent every 3T uh the wall uh remain in Mexico you and and and to achieve that yes you have to be a strong world leader you have to be able to get other countries to work with you to recognize that they bear a role and need to be a part of Sol problem uh you know ending the C release policies ending the abuse of the Asylum process you know these are the policies that we know were working and but we absolutely can get back to those with the right leadership how the chart started yall can't see this I know and how it ended the chart started with me in yum Arizona giv that to a Congressional Delegation and a state Congressional Delegation that came down they took pictures of it we started a million off of that so that's it back in 2021 so that chart is uh is very very important it tells the story because you know a picture tell a thousand words and that chart which we're referring to is the one president Butler tells you exactly where we were along those timelines and you can see as the Congress [Music] when we had this in place the numbers were down or when we had when the numbers were high we put this in place they went down I mean it's not that difficult folks job is difficult like I said nothing easy about law enforcement but we've got Solutions that'll make it better if we don't get it right it's only wor Chief what made you decide to partner with AF and can you elaborate a little bit about the secure border security America initiative yeah so you know I as you heard during my opening remarks or the opening part of my remarks I did 27 and a half years as a border I retired 5 years before I was mandatory ferally we have a seveny old age limit um and so I retired because a couple reasons one and the most important ones I had been stationed and lived away from My Wife and Kids for n the last 10 years years of my career love the job very fortunate but you know weekend commutes and and and flights and stuff over takes it's toll on the family family is great I was just ready to be with them and again when I saw what was no longer an eptitude and when I tried to bring truth to power and fight the man and and and push back and I knew where that line of insubordination was I stepped up to it and leaned as far forward as I could but I knew I wasn't ever going to sacrifice my integrity so I made a decision uh uh and I I was asked to stay I said no I I looked at my numbers I said this this it worth it you know I I I actually made myself an because I didn't have to pay rent I didn't have to I could be home with my wife and kids but I still had you just don't turn it off the only thing that's changed about me is I had a flat top for 27 years that I cut maintained every week and I shave seven days a week CU I figured if I could shave Monday Friday I save the weekends I tried to grow my hair out I'm trying out some more in the beard and I figured that Arizona summer uh or my wife tell me to get rid of it I survived the summer second summer now and she kind of likes it we'll see where we go I may look different next time you see but my heart and my passion you just don't turn it off if you cut cut me I'm going to ble red white blue and border patrol green and they needed a voice I needed a voice I wasn't I still will never bu that it would be inappropriate classify but I'll tell you the facts and the truth to that extent and we got an opportunity to partner with Americans for prosper they want they wanted to make border and immigration an issue and I told him I said if if we're going to do something that's going to make a difference that sticks to these principles of Law and Order that finds the right sweet spot between order security and LA immigration I'm all in and I go out there and tell that story and they said yeah we want to hear we want we want to take you to the border so you can explain it but we also want to bring the border to the people because we can't bust millions of people down to the Border this is my 16th state and probably my 50th event that I've done with AFP in the last uh the last year I flew in from Wisconsin on U on Thursday be here Friday and Saturday and the fact that this gets the message and the truth and even a few solutions to the people because I firmly believe in we the people get it out here to to people that are going to vote people po are impacted by the good policies and the bad policies and AF has given me that opportunity I couldn't have asked for a better transition from career in law enforcement to continue to support the men of the agency and all First Responders and Veterans and law enforcement than than what is happening right now and and again if they turn around and said you're done tomorrow Chief thank you for your time I'd be good because it was an opportunity but I hope that we continue to bring the facts to the people until we can solve this problem I know that AFP we've done some work with you in the past like I said earlier I think I knocked about 3,000 for you year so very excited to have you here in person with us um is there anything else that you'd like to expand on or anything else that you'd like to talk about before you know I think the last thing I'd like to touch on is just that is how much we appreciate afd that uh you all are so committed to doing the important policy work to studying issues to Bringing good policy solutions to talking about them to Bringing together people to to share them with the public and and also you support candidates that you think are going to bring those kinds of good policy solutions to our country so you know I'm just grateful that you all are doing this work uh that you're partnering with people like Chief Clen that you're coming to my district uh and and that you that you do that you're so committed uh to to our country and to the government so I'm just grateful to you all for for putting this event together and for doing it toward the children around America thank you um so with that we're going to wrap up a little bit now because we did get a late start um so I appreciate both of you guys so much for coming out you can't thank you enough Chief awesome weekend with you here you know we're so glad to have had you here um and with that we'll wrap up and we'll be able to after [Applause] [Music] I was told that I could ask questions during question answer um well they're not having a question answer I was told that part of the RSV well they because of the the late start two hours and no no one minute question and answer no not do I'm sorry I apologize Who Am I who can I talk to Chief Clen can I I yeah I know you had a question were okay listen this is mainly from Mrs Lee but I want you to to think realle carefully here's my business card I'm the national director of contract I'll give you two national director of contract with American part thank to both of you but listen both of you spoke of funding okay and we're going a trillion dollars in that every 90 your 100 days okay and as soon as I learned of this I immediately got was alert I called congresswoman's Lee office and said hey I'm one of your constituents I'm not just conservative press but I'm one of your constituents okay and so I said um I found the highest area of discretionary spending is student loan Regin naations now the students who PID back more uh don't turn to them for anything that they pay back way more so I said the page 35 the Republican platform and here's the letter to the Ed what's the question the question is why has congresswoman the lead not when I completely begged her begged her please file legislation to obey the Republican platform to cut the spending she has not done it either a she disagrees with that and she doesn't agree with the spending cuts and she's a liberal or B she agrees but she needs help um I have some free market Solutions but I can't I'll be willing to help her and so here's here's your copy of the letter to the editor I'm going to give you two copies because you actually talked to me um she's local I'll give her the third one I was a little bit har I want to know why has she not even attempted to obey the Republican platform as look at I don't control the Republican platform Says student the federal tax dollar shall not originate student uh origination student loan originations with my tax dollar 2 trillion student bet is the largest discretionary spending and we're making the colleges rich taxpayers and students alike are hurt because she refuses now she tries and she doesn't need the Senate because she can just put her foot down and say no more funding no more no more funding and they will stop the funding okay they the house originates this now if she tries and fails she can't get 49 other rivers of it sounds like you got to get this to take a question she keeps running from me she but he's not affili listen she I was going to ask her a question but I was going to ask her a question she took off could you ask the question for me I'll do I'll do the best one minute she took two hours and I can't even have one minute of question I'm sorry I don't I don't unfortunately I don't speak for no no but I want you to ask her she wouldn't take the question discretionary money that we can be used to help I'm going to tell you what I think's happening the colleges won't permit because they're Lobby student loan bankruptcy uniformity is article one you believe in thetion right bankruptcy uniformity and article one college that is not being uniform the students going to start bankruptcy defense this would make the lobbyist run it would force lending down and the Democrats consider this important in a perfect world a cop doesn't need a gun but this ain't a perfect world in a perfect world a student de doesn't need bankruptcy defense but it without this we've tried it every other every every before I've been born my Republicans have refused to even attempt this are they lying about that maybe they should moov it from the platform figure it out so so I can't sit here and I wasted a whole day of my time coming up here and not be able to ask a question well I'm sorry about that they cut off listen Chief my question listen I was a security person thank you for being here I want you to ask Le and I you to get back here's a third business card may God bless you you did your part okay he did his part she didn't do hers and we're going to crash the door sorry about that they ended up regular question yeah they said they top question you're not per yeah yeah yeah yeah okay okay got it listen uh I didn't get your name let me let me give you my I'm Gord listen let me tell you something I'm I'm an angry conservative that I'm a Christian person in the law abiding and I was once a security officer and I may actually still be but the point that I'm making is I did all the right thing and if she doesn't it's not just Pur I mean if we don't get this under control we're going to crash the dollar and of course it won't be border SEC funding oh yes I understand and and spending is out of control I understand right but you know it's it's unfortunate you weren't able to talk to her you know I'm not able to talk to her either so well in any event okay I'll I'm over here but listen that's one of my friends I'm going to talk with her first and then I'll be on my way oh goodness oh holy C okay I got it okay thanks okay hey Megan hey Megan hey uh hey Megan uh listen um I wanted to uh I wanted to yes okay I can see you my car I'm still on the phone I'm sorry yes Sor you have your card remember I remember listen I want you I want you to convey apology to the Congress woman for me being a little bit harsh but I want you to get an answer I was supposed to have a chance for a question and answer sorry I got I have to take this I'll give this to her for sure okay I just I'm just looking I mean if I appreciate it Mr okay listen I did my part I mean listen I could have I could have slept in today and I could have said screw it and we would definitely crash the dollar and we spend we go a trillion dollars in day every 100 days the money for you guys and the border is not going to be there because they just keep prining it up oh goodness crap so in any event oh oops that's right so the point that I'm making is I'm angry but I'm angry because they're mistreating you by depriving you of funding the money is going to these million dollar University presents and there's a lot of other things that's just the cheap one but I'm trying to get funding for you I'm protecting your but you know and mine too because because because you know we're all a team and look it's a hard job there's the lobbyists from the universities the banks the loan servicers the money Chang here or not being redundant some par in the tan scoy land back here so the point you remember you talk to me when you when you drove up oh yes that's right I got here early I'm bad with to me when you drove up yeah I'm bad with faces now now thanks for talking my memory it's okay in any event the the bottom line is the question that I was hoping to ask her maybe you can get through to her cuz she she's afraid of my questions I'm too conservative or too tough or something the question that I would like to see if you can ask her give my business card let me cuz oh I've got it oh just go and take one for a friend I CLA here's a question I'm what's your name again okay I'm so the question I want you to ask to the congresswoman is are why have you not attempted to I mean just attempted maybe she would fail but at least attempted to put a stop to the student loan origination spending which is prohibited by the the Republican platform the Republican uh page 35 says the federal government should not be involved in student long regation spend was my tax dollars 2 trillion in debt now it's all on paper cuz the students repaid it but it's going to go in reverse either a I'm a liberal i w agree with it and if that's the case I want to find out why but if or be I'm trying but I can't do it because there's problem and if there's a problem I'm an angry person but I'm a Christian first and if she has a problem I'll offer some solutions or I'll go down I'll give it my best try so so the bottom line I want to find out why she's not even trying and she has given her word to be fiscally conservative and it's in the Republican platform you U shoot I oh I ran out a letter to the editor well that's that's that's you listen if you see the front page news uh on our news the three websites there you can catch it what's your name again Brad Brad oh okay so in any then I did my part um okay there was no questions and answers they didn't keep their word um but well they they did but I think they were prepared questions that that the that the moderator had prepared so and well it's not your fault listen man you're a security person just like me yeah look let me show you um back in the day I was a security officer okay and I still have the badge and um and so in any this badge here is to reflect my new promotion cance I don't have any weapon on me cuz I I even though y'all didn't scream me you should have and it was just probably a secure event so I don't I'm not carrying my we we you you'll notice that there was a few law enforcement off yeah yeah there were so don't yeah y'all did your part but y'all but in the event even though y'all didn't screen me um I I knew to show proper manners and I left my service revolver back at the house but the bottom line but yeah yeah yeah I mean I you know it's one of them things where you try to do your best and you don't want to scream people too much um and so something can slip through but but y'all y'all did the best that you could but the bottom line is if you could ask her you're probably one of her constituents why are you not even attempting she only has one choice either cut the funding here uh or we'll crash the dollar and there won't be a border security there's a lot of bloat but the student loan origination is two trillion in debt is student debt okay you need me yeah so the bottom line is you need me yeah yeah so Brad here's the bottom line that um the students are current the taxpayers currently have been fully repaid but it's going to go in reverse if it's not stopped cuz it's it's a it's liberal poror spending so excuse me I was going to say Matt was ask me talk to you okay Brad I didn't catch your name but Brad thank you you have a good night Sir I've got to go and finish my job so you have a good night okay okay good luck thank you so much buddy for