On Monday’s Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Leahy welcomed special guest Brandon Judd, President of the National Border Patrol to the show to talk about how he got into a career with border patrol and what he imagined immigration would be like with a Democrat President.
Towards the middle of the second segment, Judd explained how many suburbanites make their political decisions based on Trump’s personality instead of his policies. Judd commented on how he thought that was an odd position to take while drugs pour into their communities and affect their children through open border policies. “It just doesn’t make sense. They say they don’t like President Trump’s personality. I say policy over personality any day,” said Judd.
Leahy: We are joined now by a very special guest, Brandon Judd, President of the National Border Patrol Council which represents 18,000 border patrol agents. Brandon, welcome to the Tennessee Star Report.
Judd: Hey thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Leahy: Well Brandon we were up in Washington and talked with your Vice President, Hector Garza. A very excellent guest while we were in the radio row event sponsored by the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
We tried to get you then but you were so popular. Couldn’t make it then. But thank you so much for joining us today over the phone. Tell us a little bit about the big battles that you see facing your 18,000 border patrol agents that are part of your organization.
Judd: Well the main thing that we’re seeing right now is, unfortunately, is liberal activism. I wish I could say that are main battle is with illegal aliens and criminal cartels but right now you’ve got to look at the judicial activism.
Everything that President Trump is trying to get done, he’s having injunctions and lawsuits filed against him by very liberal organizations like the ACLU. And the reason why you know that this judicial activism is because they always take it to circuit courts within the Ninth circuit.
Leahy: The liberal Ninth Circuit out there in San Francisco crazy land.
Judd: Yeah, it’s the most overruled circuit in the entire United States. But the good thing is that we know that what President Trump is trying to get accomplished ultimately he’s going to win because once it gets to the Supreme Court we get the proper decisions. The Supreme Court does not rule on activism.
They look at the laws and they look at the constitution and the rule-based upon that. So we know that these initial speed bumps were going to be able to get over. And the speed bumps that we have been able to get over we’ve seen a huge drop in illegal immigration over the past several months.
And that’s strictly because President Trump is enacting policies that are working for border security. So, those are the things that we’re seeing right now.
Leahy: You know, when I was up there in Washington and talked to Hector Garza from your group and then many of the Sheriffs. Particularly the Sheriff’s who live and work all around the country in suburban and rural counties.
It was very eye-opening when they told me that the sanctuary cities that are around the country are essentially a corridor of crime that begins at the border. And then you see human trafficking and drug use and fentanyl. Illegal drug activity goes hand and hand with the sanctuary cities around the country.
And that no city in the United States is safe. Our own Senator Marsha Blackburn has said, every state is a border state here in the United States. What strikes me though is that your border agents perhaps the toughest jobs in the country right now. How do you maintain morale with all these constant attacks upon the legitimate work border agents are doing? How is morale maintained?
Judd: I don’t want to sound like a cheerleader but strictly speaking morale is maintained because we have a President that supports our mission. We have a President that supports what we’re trying to do. When you have the AOC’s of the world that are going down to the border with pre-canned narratives and all they’re doing is going down for photo ops to say that they’ve been there.
But then they want to attack us and say that we’re Nazi’s. She’s comparing a group of individuals, the Nazi’s that killed six million Jews. She’s comparing border patrol agents to that. We’ve had border patrol agents who have lost their lives. I worked an 18-hour shift to try and save an illegal alien that crossed the border. We’ve got border patrol agents that have crossed the Colorado River and lost their lives trying to save illegal aliens.
Yet she’s comparing us to Nazi’s. So you think that that would drag morale down, but if it was the Obama administration it would because he didn’t support our mission. But because Trump does support our mission the moral is actually high right now because you have the head person of the country saying I support them. It’s interesting when you’re talking to the sheriffs, Sheriff Lamb who now works out of county
When you talk to these sheriffs and their talking about the corridor of crime, they’re not just corridor of crimes but they are part of the magnet that draws people to cross the borders illegally. They are part of the magnet that allows criminal cartels that they got billions of dollars of revenue that they generate per year. And what’s really interesting about that is we’ve got this huge problem in suburban America.
We have our children that are dying because of this opioid epidemic but yet it’s this suburban America that supports the liberal policies that invite the criminal cartels to continue to push their opioids into their communities that are killing their children. It just doesn’t make sense. They say they don’t like President Trump’s personality. I say policy over personality any day.
Leahy: Absolutely. So let me ask you about policy. Right now, what would the world be like in January 2021 in the event a Joe Biden or an Elizabeth Warren were to be elected President? How would border patrol agents respond to that? And how hard would their jobs be with such an administration?
Judd: Illegal immigration will explode if any one of those individuals are elected. If you look at the policies that drive illegal immigration or drug smuggling. Anytime you’re pandering to open border activists you’re going to have a huge increase in the numbers of people that are crossing our borders.
The number of drugs that are crossing our borders. Again, we have to look at that and we have to say what are the best policies for our country. Again, I hear that I don’t like President Trump. I’ve met with President Trump on many occasions and I can tell you that the one thing that I truly appreciate is that what you see is what you get.
And when he makes a promise and tells you that he’s going to do something he does everything in his power to accomplish that. He’s not the typical politician. He’s a businessman that came into the White House. We wanted something different. We got something different and we’re getting something that’s working.
It’s working on all fronts. It’s working for the economy. It’s working for border security. It’s working for everything that he said he’s trying to get. But again, we just have people that say, “Well, I don’t like him.” And that just doesn’t make sense.
Leahy: Brandon Judd the President of the National Border Patrol Council representing 18,000 border patrol agents. Tell us a little bit about your own personal story Brandon. How did you get started as a border patrol agent?
Judd: I grew up in southeastern Arizona. I’ve known about the border patrol my whole life. I greatly respect the men and women that do the job. I come from a law enforcement family. I’m one of five boys and four of us are in law enforcement in my family. My father is in law enforcement so I’ve always appreciated the rule of law.
I believe it’s the rule of law that makes our country the great country that it is. I believe it’s the rule of law that keeps us safe and keeps us free. And if we don’t continue to abide by the rule of law we become no better than countries like Mexico or Venezuela. And frankly, I don’t want to give that over to my children.
Leahy: Now, are you still working on the job in addition to being President? Or is being President of the National Border Patrol Council as a full-time gig?
Judd: No. All elected representatives of the National Border Patrol Council are active border patrol agents. So every single one of us are active border patrol agents.
Leahy: So you’ve got a full-time job plus you’re the President of National Border Patrol Council. Are you on the border like today or tomorrow?
Judd: Today I am not, but tomorrow I will be yes. I spend the vast majority of my time balancing back and forth from Washington, D.C. and Arizona, and Texas.
Listen to the full second hour:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 am to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Brandon Judd” by Fox News.
