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Trump Border Chief Reveals ‘Invasion’ at Southern Border

Southern Border

As drugs and gangs make their way across the southern border, Americans are put at risk, Mark Morgan says. Pictured: A Border Patrol agent searches an illegal immigrant Dec. 7, 2015, near Rio Grande City, Texas. (Photo: John Moore/Getty Images)

The crisis on our southern border continues to get worse by the day, critics say. Washington’s failure to control illegal immigration is resulting in an influx of drugs and gang violence that makes the country less safe.

Mark Morgan, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection during the Trump administration, is furious that a solid southern border has been transformed into the Wild West in the first year of the Biden administration.

“President [Joe] Biden inherited the most secure border in our lifetime, and with the stroke of a political pen from Day One, he started to systematically dismantle it,” says Morgan, now a visiting fellow in national security at The Heritage Foundation, parent organization of The Daily Signal.

“And as each month in the past year has gone by,” he says, “the border has become less secure and our country has become less safe because of this administration’s, I believe, ideologic and politically driven open-border policies.”

Morgan joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss how the border crisis affects Americans, and what can be done to fix it.

We also cover these stories.

Listen to the podcast below or read the lightly edited transcript.

Douglas Blair: My guest today is Mark Morgan, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection under President [Donald] Trump and a Heritage Foundation visiting fellow. Commissioner, welcome to the show.

Mark Morgan: Thanks for having me, Doug.

Doug: So Mark, let’s begin with a status update on America’s border. What does it look like right now under President [Joe] Biden? Is it good? Bad? What are we seeing?

Morgan: It is absolutely 100% the Wild Wild West. And let me put it in perspective. President Biden inherited the most secure border in our lifetime and with the stroke of a political pen from Day One, he started to systematically dismantle it. And as each month in the past year has gone by, the border has become less secure and our country’s become less safe because of this administration’s, I believe, ideologic and politically driven open border policies.

Blair: One of the things that really made me want to have you on the show was you recently covered a piece for The Daily Signal. And that piece was titled, “Is Biden Complying With Court Order to Bring Back ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy?” So first off, for our listeners who maybe aren’t aware of what that is, what is the Remain in Mexico policy?

Morgan: Yeah, so Doug, this is very important. So, I often talk about the network of tools, authorities, and policies that President Trump gave us that really allowed the Border Patrol to do their job and secure the border and safeguard this country. One of the most significant authorities, tools that we had was what we refer to as the Migrant Protection Protocol. Most people know that as the Remain in Mexico program.

What that did was, it closed one of those significant loopholes we had. It was based on a lower court judicial activist case, I believe, which says, if you came to our borders as an unaccompanied minor or a family, the government couldn’t detain you.

So that’s what started what everybody knows as “catch and release.” I mean, if you came to our border with your family, that kid was like your automatic passport in the United States. And they were released, never to be heard from again. That was one of the biggest factors of the crisis we saw in 2019, that onslaught of families coming mainly from Northern Triangle countries.

Well, Remain in Mexico closed that loophole down. It put integrity back in the system. And by February of 2020, we saw a 75% reduction in illegal alien families come to our border because of that one program. It worked, it was effective, and the first day this administration ended the program.

Blair: So we’re seeing that as soon as those policies went out of the window, the numbers went up again.

Morgan: That’s exactly right. That was one of a series of things they did. But that was a significant one that really overnight is why we saw this onslaught of families, once again, coming to our border. And they were allowed in, never to be heard from again.

But as you mentioned, there was an incredible court case, which I actually participated in. It was Texas and Missouri that sued the federal government and they won. So the court ordered the Biden administration to reimplement the Remain in Mexico program. I believe they have not done so in good faith. It’s a joke what they’re doing right now.

Blair: Can you elaborate on that a little further?

Morgan: Yeah, sure. So look, again, let’s go back to the whole purpose of the Remain in Mexico program, it was to stem the flow, was to close that loophole that was created that allowed families their passport in the United States. And again, it was mainly on families.

So there’s a couple of things going on. Right now, in December, let me give you the numbers. In December, under the newly reinstituted Remain in Mexico program, they enrolled 267. Now, let’s put that in perspective. How many apprehensions do we have in December? One hundred seventy-eight thousand. Of course. That’s what everybody does.

Blair: It’s a drop in the bucket.

Morgan: A drop in the bucket. It’s a joke. And then, guess what? They enrolled not a single family. I mean, the entire genesis behind the Remain in Mexico program was to actually close that loophole that is presented to families. They didn’t enroll a single family.

And then the majority of your families are coming from where? The Northern Triangle countries. So they only enrolled single adults. Where? From outside of the Northern Triangle countries.

It’s a joke. It’s having absolutely no impact. I believe they’re defying the court order, they’re not acting in good faith. And I hope that Texas and Missouri still push this to hold them accountable.

Blair: Let’s follow up on this. How is the Biden administration justifying this? Because it seems very difficult for you to say, “We’re complying with this order,” and then just not.

Morgan: Yeah. I mean, they’re just simply saying, they’re reporting back that what they’re really using is Mexico. So, think about this. They keep saying that Mexico is the problem, Mexico has to approve this, Mexico is not accepting the people. I believe that’s disingenuous at best, Doug.

Look, one of the first things that this administration did, what we have is, we had leverage. Look, let’s remember what President Trump did. Remember a little thing called tariffs? I mean, he used that to get leverage. He used that to get Mexico to step up, to really get some skin in the game and act as if this is the regional crisis that it is.

And based on that, it wasn’t a threat, it was a promise. President Trump would’ve done it. But what happened? Mexico stepped up. They started enforcing their southern border, they started increasing their interior enforcement. At one point they had over 20,000 troops in law enforcement personnel in the interior attack on this issue.

And what did the Biden administration do? They absolutely jettisoned every bit of leverage they had. You have seen Mexico now. They are not secure in their southern border, their entire enforcement has dramatically decreased because they know that this administration is weak. And they know they’re the ones actually encouraging this.

Blair: So there are almost external consequences to this as well if Mexico is now taking matters into their own hands and they’re just saying, “We’re not going to enforce it either. Why would we do that if America wasn’t doing it?”

Morgan: That’s exactly it. In fact, the president has said something very similar to that. And I got to agree with him, he’s like, “Wait a minute, wait a minute. It is the current American administration right now that is actually encouraging, incentivizing, and facilitating the flow of illegal immigration. Why should we step in the way now when it’s the United States that’s actually facilitating it?” I think he’s right.

Blair: Absolutely. I wanted to mention, you talked about two states that maybe are going to take action against the Biden administration. Could you go into that a little further?

Morgan: Yeah. So, on this specific incident, it’s Texas and Missouri, my home state, that got involved and joined together and they won this. And the judge really was on the procedural act. They said that they actually didn’t end the program within the procedural act.

But it was more than that because the judge also really went after [Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas’ jugular, as I call it. Because he really said that the secretary failed to consider several factors that showed that the Remain in Mexico program was effective, that he actually stemmed the flow. And he accused the secretary of not considering other initiatives that should be taken to actually address the fraudulent asylum claims that, again, the Remain in Mexico program did and helped reduce that fraud.

But here’s what’s more important, besides just substantively making this administration reinstitute the Remain in Mexico program, is that Missouri was involved. And why is that important? Because, for one of the first times, it showed—and the judge recognized this—that what happens on our southwest border doesn’t stay there.

It’s why I’ve been saying, it’s equally as important that Missouri was evolved as the substance of the win. Because it shows that every city, town in this country is a border town, city, and state. Is that what happens at the southwest border doesn’t stay there. It goes out to every single state in this country.

Blair: As a result of that lawsuit, what happens now? Where does the Biden administration go?

Morgan: Look, they continue to argue that they are pushing the program in good faith. As I stated, I disagree with that. So now it is Texas and Missouri going back, holding their feet to the fire, and trying to show the court why they believe that they are not complying in good faith to the court order and hold people accountable and force them to actually implement this.

Right now, I mean, I believe they’re only implemented in one sector, maybe two of the nine sectors along the entire 2,000 miles. Like I said, 260 people in a month, out of 170,000 apprehensions. It’s a joke.

Blair: So you mentioned Secretary Mayorkas. How would you rate his performance so far?

Morgan: Is there anything worse than an F? And keep in mind, here’s what is absolutely absurd—and the listeners, I really encourage them, it shouldn’t take them long, research one of his congressional testimonies where he was asked to grade himself. And wait for it, this should be shocker. He gave himself an A.

Blair: Oh my.

Morgan: Right? I mean, we are experiencing the worst catastrophic crisis on our southwest border that is literally killing Americans. And our border, it literally is the Wild Wild West. And this secretary gives himself an A. It’s just absolutely absurd.

Blair: Now, one of the things that I’ve noticed about Secretary Mayorkas is he seemingly stood behind Border Patrol. And there’s an incident I really want to talk about, which is the Haitian migrants incident, where there was an accusation that Border Patrol agents were whipping Haitian migrants with their reins for the horses—

Morgan: Lie.

Blair: … which was proven later to be a lie. And initially, he stood behind them and said that this was something that they wouldn’t do, but then quickly bowed to the left and said, “Well, they probably did. We’re going to launch an investigation.”

How does that affect morale with Border Patrol agents when your secretary is telling you you’re racist and you’re whipping Haitian migrants?

Morgan: Yeah, Doug, so look, you hit on a couple very important things here, especially in the very beginning. Because you’re right, he was saying what you would expect—by the way, a former prosecutor. This man knows that you’re supposed to let the investigation unfold, you’re not supposed to come up with preconceived notions or make preliminary statements. You’re supposed to let the investigation unfold. And when he was down there—by the way, in front of the troops—still, that’s what he’s said.

In less than, I think it was 16 hours, he returned to D.C. and it completely changed. So he got to his handlers—just like the president has his handlers—and it completely changed. He turned into the judge, jury, and executioner all in one. And he was a former prosecutor and he knows better.

Shame on him. He vilified the agency, he scapegoated them. He ruined their reputation and their career. And then he facilitated—and what he should have done as the secretary, Cabinet-level official, he should have gone to the White House and said, “Woah, whoa, time out. Time out, Mr. President. Don’t do this. Don’t go out and vilify them because the facts aren’t there.” And right now the facts are suggesting there was no whipping.

Blair: Right.

Morgan: Right? But yet he allowed the president of the United States to get out there and use a bully pulpit to also chastise and vilify these agents.

Look, I was the commissioner of CBP, not a Cabinet-level official, but it’s pretty high up there. And I got to tell you, if that would’ve happened, I would’ve been getting my way to the White House to tell them, “Do not let the president vilify these agents.” One, it’s not the right thing to do, regardless of circumstances. Let the investigation pan out. But it was in fact not true.

And here’s another thing I’ll say, it’s not just Secretary Mayorkas. Where was the Border Patrol chief? Chief [Raul] Ortiz. Where was he? Thirty-one years serving this country in the Border Patrol, where was he to stand up, to support them, to be the relentless advocate of the men and women that he is supposed to oversee? He remained silent. I don’t care what his justification or rationale was, that was wrong.

And so not only was this really the beginning, in addition to all the policies they removed, that the workforce started to lose respect and trust and confidence in the secretary, but also their chief.

Blair: What I’m gathering from this conversation so far is that there seems to be a pretty massive difference between how the former Trump administration handled matters of immigration and border security versus how the Biden administration is handling matters of border security and our immigration system. Where would you say that that is the most pronounced?

Morgan: Yeah. So again, I think there’s something very important that you said in there. You’ve clearly done your homework and you understand this issue. You said border security. Border security. That’s what this is about, Doug. It’s not about illegal immigration only. Illegal immigration is just a subset of the vast complex threat, a set of threats that we face from outside our borders. This is about border security first.

Look, President Trump understood that this is about border security. He subscribed the Ronald Reagan concept. That a country that cannot secure its borders is not a country at all.

If you look back from 1986 forward, every time there was discussion politically about amnesty, law enforcement officer, “I can’t support that. I can never support rewarding someone who broke the law, but understand there’s got to be some political discussions about that.” But what was always in the forefront before amnesty was border security.

The 1986 bill that talked about amnesty, the first thing they talked about was border security. Now, neither was done very well. But ever since then … whenever you had this other talk about amnesty and other immigration reform, it was always first and foremost about border security.

We are now in a position, this is the first time in our lifetime—it is so radical, so progressive—they are talking about open borders and amnesty without one word of discussion about border security. The mass amnesty that they tried to ram, jam through the reconciliation process—which I believe was unconstitutional, outside the parameters and policy—three attempts they took at trying to get mass amnesty, not one discussion about border security.

So, that was the biggest difference, is we understood the importance of border security. We understood that what happens to the southwest border impacted every town, city, and state. And so we were taking policies, initiatives, and tools to secure the border, to protect this country.

I’ll give you an example. Look, when you take and you facilitate and drive 2 million apprehensions in a 12-month period, you’re pulling Border Patrol resources off the front line, off their national security mission. That leaves our border wide open, unmonitored, unpatrolled, unsecured.

Gang members are pouring in, drugs are pouring in, criminal aliens are pouring in, and we have an exponential increase to our national security threat. Not only the threat to the migrants themselves. In the last 12 months, over 600 migrants died trying to cross the border, thousands of them had to be rescued. Sexual assaults increase, human trafficking increases.

Look, the worst thing that you can do, both to the United States and the migrants themselves, is to have open border policies that this administration is pushing right now.

Blair: Now, you focused very heavily on border security, but there’s something else that was so impactful about what you just said, which is the actual security of the people involved in the process. Both the migrants and the Americans on the other side of the border. So Mark, I’d love to talk to you about drugs and how drugs at the southern border is becoming such a horrible issue.

So I want to read you a quote, “There was enough fentanyl seized in Texas last year, according to Gov. Greg Abbott, to kill 222 million Americans and Biden does not care.” That is, again, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Would you agree with that sentiment?

Morgan: A hundred percent. And here’s why I draw the same conclusion, that he doesn’t care. He cares more about pursuing and satisfying the radical open border ideologues and his political party than what’s in the best interest of this country.

And how can I draw that conclusion, Doug? Let me give you just one fact: 100,000 drug overdoses in this country in a 12-month period—100,000, let that soak in. That is more than the deaths of the Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq wars combined. And those wars lasted decades. Think about that.

And we know that the vast majority of drugs that are coming in, poisoning our kids, killing 100,000 people come from the southwest border. I promise you, if you have a meth overdose, you pick the city, you pick the state, that meth more than likely came from the southwest border. Fentanyl, look, we know that it takes a very little amount, we know that it’s being produced in Mexico, that they’re putting fentanyl in other synthetic drugs.

And we know that, look, all these people that died from drug overdoses, they’re not bad people, they’re not druggies. They’re not these bad people that some people associate with them. Look, I talked to an “angel family,” her daughter, 15 years old, went to a party. She was kind of depressed and down, like a lot of 15-year-olds can be—

Blair: Right.

Morgan: Right?

Blair: Yeah.

Morgan: And she was offered what she thought was Percocet. Right?

Blair: Mm-hmm.

Morgan: Well, guess what? It was laced with fentanyl. First time she had ever taken a pill, she died. That’s what’s happening.

So shouldn’t this be an American thing to secure our borders? How did this become a right or left thing to secure our borders, to stop drugs from pouring into this country? Every single day drugs are pouring into this country and making their way to every town, city, and state.

I’ll give you a quick example. So, just last week, about 13 governors, AG [Ken] Paxton in Texas invited about 13 attorneys general from all over, including interior states. And there’s one from Oklahoma. And he said, “I didn’t realize. My eyes were opened about how the drugs pour cross.” And then it’s so well organized, it hits I-35 or I-40 and makes its way to Oklahoma, of which the cartels had divided the entire state of Oklahoma up into regions to distribute their drugs.

Shouldn’t we all be against that? I just don’t get this administration.

Blair: What it sounds like is that there’s a rather robust operation that is coming from the south and moving drugs into America. Is this worse than we’ve seen in previous years? Is this increased due to this administration’s lax policies?

Morgan: Absolutely. Look, it’s a multimillion-dollar business per day. And look, I equate what’s happening right now at the southwest border as an invasion. And it’s an invasion that is being driven by … the cartels, which I refer to as a shadow government. I equate their strength, their influence, their capability, their capacity to that of a terrorist organization.

Look, ISIS has nothing on the cartels. And they’re just driven, rather than by ideology to do harm to the United States, they’re driven by profit that’s doing harm to the United States. But there’s no difference to them, at the end of the day, with respect to the orchestrated, systematic, hostile encroachment that’s causing harm to our country every single day.

Blair: You spoke a little bit about this, but on a personal anecdote, I come from Portland, Oregon, which has an awful, awful, awful problem with drugs. It’s also practically legal there, which is—

Morgan: I was going to say, they also have an awful, awful problem with their leadership there—

Blair: Yes, absolutely—

Morgan: … and policies.

Blair: … 100% agree with you. And I have friends who are from the Rust Belt, who are going through these horrible, horrible problems with opioids. Does this influx of narcotics coming from the south impact that at all?

Morgan: Absolutely. Every single day. Look, you’ll see it with prices. When you flood, prices will go down. But again, I go back to how it’s structured. So, to put it simplistically, and I am oversimplifying, but the drugs come across and then the entities that are the distribution mechanism of the cartels are the gangs.

… At times, it may not be as structured as one would think, but there is structure. There’s a system of payment that goes all the way from the cartels, all the way down to the local drug dealer on the corner within your city and streets.

So I guarantee you, if you’re seeing a drug problem increase in your city, it’s because it’s coming across the southwest border and the border is less secure.

Blair: Now, security also plays into safety. So I want to talk about how this problem on the southern border impacts the safety of Americans. What do you have to say about that?

Morgan: Another great question, Doug. Look, I always say, what’s happening at the southwest border impacts every aspect of our public health, safety, and national security. And so, we’ve been talking about the drugs. So let’s now talk about the next issue.

Again, when you pull Border Patrol agents off the line to have to process 2 million apprehensions in 12 months—think about that. There are areas along the border where there are at times not a single agent on the front line, not a single agent, because they’re pulled off to process 2 million illegal aliens.

Well, what do you think the cartels do? First of all, they do it on purpose. So, they’ll put a bunch of kids and families in a stash house, and then they’ll wait. I saw it this weekend with my own eyes. I was in McAllen, Texas. And you saw it.

So, they flood one area with a bunch of rafts and a bunch of migrants. Of course, what’s going to have to happen? All the Border Patrol agents are going to have to go there to process them. What do you think they do? Oh, well, right or left? It’s wide open. What do you think’s happening? That’s where the drugs are coming across, but guess what else is also coming across? Gang members and criminal aliens.

Look, in the same 12-month period, 600,000 got-aways. Got-aways are those that have broken into our country and evaded apprehension. Why? Because the Border Patrol agents aren’t on the line, because they’re processing families and kids.

Six hundred thousand. That’s equivalent to the entire size of the state of Vermont. Think about that. The entire state of Vermont broke into our country and got away because our borders are wide open.

And guess what? There are really, really bad people among them. And this is where I get called a racist. And I tell you, every time I do, Doug, I just get stronger because I know the truth and it’s the reality. I’ve never said they’re all bad, but there’s an exorbitant amount that are. Why are they running and trying to evade?

I’ll give you another stat, the Border Patrol in the same 12-month period apprehended 18,000 criminals. That’s what they apprehended, and gang members. So think about that 600,000. Think about how many criminals got away, think about how many gang members got away. I mean, and there are murderers and rapists and pedophiles and aggravated felons, the list goes on and on.

So of course, this impacts every aspect of our public safety. Because these individuals, they’re not staying on the southwest borderer, they’re getting on the highways and they’re being smuggled in. Every city, town, and state in this country, there’s a direct correlation.

Blair: Absolutely. And on that note, you mentioned murders. A Houston cop was shot. Charles Galloway was shot in Houston. And his murderer was an illegal immigrant with a rap sheet almost a mile long. Is that sort of an example of what you’re talking about?

Morgan: Exactly. That’s exactly what I’m talking about. So think about that. And he was a got-away. He would be one of those 600,000.

Now look, I don’t know when he came in, when he got away. I can tell you the difference was, in a Trump administration, we were trying to stop it. And this administration’s actually facilitating it. I mean, 600,000 is the largest number of got-aways, I think, since it’s been recorded.

But I mean, Doug, when’s the last time you heard [White House press secretary] Jen Psaki or the [homeland security] secretary or the president mention the number of got-aways and that there are criminals among them? In fact, when the secretary’s asked about that, like, “How many criminals?”, he doesn’t know, he can’t even answer.

I mean, how pathetic and absurd is that? I mean, to me, again, they’re intentionally lying to the American people.

Blair: There’s two things I want to mention there. Actually, one of the things about the illegal system is that there are people that are known to be [illegal immigrants] that cannot be deported. So for example, to use another news story that happened recently in the nation’s capital, we had a rash of swastikas that were drawn on Union Station. It was discovered that the culprit had been deported twice, but was ineligible to be deported under the current structure of deportation. How does that happen?

Morgan: Yeah, yeah. … So, what we’ve been talking about so far is really what’s happening on the physical border and the policies impacting the Border Patrol to be able to do their job. Now let’s shift to the interior because that’s what we’re talking about now.

So again, spot on. Because there’s two things happening. We’ve created a welcoming center on the front end and we’ve created a sanctuary country on the back end.

With DHS Secretary Mayorkas—who, by the way, is a colossal failure and he’s abdicated all his responsibility with respect to his oath to safeguard this country. I mean, he really is the DHS secretary of homeland insecurity. Through his policies, he has basically abolished [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] without physically abolishing ICE. He has taken away 90% of their interior enforcement authority.

And what you just represented is one of just countless cases that happen every day. I could give you another one. An illegal alien that was here, got drunk, killed a young woman because he was drunk. He serves his time, he’s done with his time, sheriff’s department calls ICE and says, “Hey, I got this illegal alien that killed somebody, served his time, he’s done.” And they said, “Not a priority, according to the secretary.” So they released him back in the city.

And what—I was almost going to say a bad word. On what planet does that make sense? It doesn’t.

And right now, if you look at ICE, historically, 90% of those that ICE arrests in the interior, actually, besides being here illegally, Doug, they also have either an additional criminal conviction or have been charged. Let that soak in—90%, well before Secretary Mayorkas has become secretary. Ninety percent of those that ICE arrests, here illegally, already have another criminal conviction or arrest. And this secretary has reduced 90% of ICE’s interior enforcement.

So let’s follow the bouncing ball, don’t have to be a rocket scientist. That means there is a whole bunch of criminals walking our streets right now because of this secretary and this administration. It’s just a fact. …

Have you seen the ICE deportation report?

Blair: I was just about to ask you about that.

Morgan: Right. Look, I talked to Tom Homan, he was the ICE director. … And he was involved in countless reports. Look, and I know you get all of the data you need by the end of October. And generally, that report was released in November, at the latest, December. We still don’t have it.

I’m getting word right now, it’s because they’ve completely reworked it to spin it. So it’s going to try to put as much lipstick on the pig as they can. But in a day, that report’s still going to be a pig. And I guarantee you, we’re going to be reviewing that and we’re going to make sure the American people hear the truth.

Blair: Now, for those of you, our listeners, who maybe aren’t aware of what that is, ICE generally releases a report at the end of the year detailing these statistics about how many arrests, how many deportations, yada, yada, yada. This still has not been released as of the recording of this podcast. And you’re mentioning it’s because they’re trying to spin it.

Morgan: Absolutely. Because there’s no doubt the information I’m getting, it’s going to show the lowest number of—we’re talking about interior enforcement arrests that ICE has done. And again, simply put, that just means there are more criminals. Because again, this is very important, because American people are being lied to.

Ninety percent, under any administration—Republican, Democrat—90% of who ICE arrests in the interior have a criminal conviction or have been criminally charged. And now that has been dramatically reduced, which that just means more criminals are walking our streets. That’s what the report is going to show. They’re trying to twist it and manipulate it so it doesn’t look as bad as it actually is.

Blair: Now, Mark, we need to wrap-up. But we’ve discussed all of these various issues that come as a result of a weak southern border policy. What is the solution? How do we fix this? How do we get back on track?

Morgan: So, two things. One, 2022 matters. We need to get individuals up on the Hill that understand the importance of border security. That it really is about our nation’s public health safety, national security, we haven’t even talked about COVID and the ridiculous hypocrisy that they’re allowing COVID-positive immigrants in without being tested or vaccine mandates. So we need strong members of Congress that understand border security, first and foremost.

But hey, look, at the end of the day, we can’t wait for them. We can’t. They don’t take office until 2023. Nothing in Congress moves fast. We need them to pass meaningful legislation to fix that loophole that I was telling you about, the Remain in Mexico program; to reduce the authority of a secretary to basically abolish ICE without congressional oversight or approval. There’s so many things that Congress needs to do to pass meaningful legislation.

But here’s another thing I would say, real quick, is that, let’s not wait until then. You need to get out there, talk to your state legislator, talk to your state AGs, talk to your governors. Demand that they do more. Like Gov. Abbott in Texas, Gov. [Ron] DeSantis in Florida, a few other governors. I mean, AG Paxton of Texas.

Texas has done more than any other state in this nation. We need more states to do more. Citizens need to demand that their states, regardless if they’re on the border interior, step up to do more, to help secure our border and fill the gap that’s been left by this administration.

Blair: That was Mark Morgan, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection under President Trump and Heritage Foundation visiting fellow. Mark, very much appreciate your time.

Morgan: You bet. Thanks, Doug.

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