MCALLEN, Texas — While claiming to stay out of politics, the commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said there is no future for building walls in America, when asked about Trumps wall.
“I’m often asked that question and as CBP we try to not engage in politics,” said CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske during a public event at a local high school. “This is one topic that we can’t stay out of.”
Kerlikowske visited this border city on Friday for a official appearance with his counterpart from Mexico, Enrique Galindo Ceballos, the National Security Commissioner for Mexico.
It was during that event that a local student asked Kerlikowske for his opinion about the need for a border wall proposed by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Kerlikowske said that in border areas that rely on agriculture, a barrier like a wall would be detrimental to the community and that a wall is not a good or effective way to improve security.
Kerlikowske further added a line that has been regularly used by members of the current administration who claim that the border “is the most secure” it has been in years.
“We don’t see much of a future in building a wall,” the commissioner said.
As previously reported by Breitbart Texas, Kerlikowske has been harshly criticized by the National Border Patrol Council who have accused him of playing politics with border enforcement. The NBPC is a national union that represents men and women in border patrol, the leaders of the union are legally protected when they speak out against management.
“The commissioner and I have serious disagreements on border security,” said NBPC President Brandon Judd in a prepared statement previously published by Breitbart Texas. “He believes in amnesty programs like DAPA, DACA and ‘catch and release’ are the right approach. However, we have seen that these programs only add to the crisis, as illegal immigrants believe they are going to be allowed to stay.
The failure to secure the border allows those who have been previously deported, including violent criminals, to simply walk back across and try again. This week, in the same community where Kerlikowske said there is no future for a border wall, three previously deported child rapists from Guatemala were arrested after re-entering the U.S., Breitbart Texas reported.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.