Border Patrol agents noted a 30 percent average reduction in arrests of migrants along the southwest border within two weeks of implementation of the U.S.-Mexico “Remain in Mexico” policy for asylum seekers, said Brandon Judd. Judd is the president of the National Border Patrol Council and spoke to SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight host Rebecca Mansour and special guest host John Hayward in a Wednesday interview.
Judd said, “It’s very interesting how the mainstream media and the liberal media hammer [Donald Trump] and say he’s such a horrible person for weaponizing tariffs — that he shouldn’t weaponize tariffs. But what he did was he got Mexico to do what they needed to do, and because of that, we’ve seen a huge drop [in border arrests].”
Judd continued, “We have seen a 65 percent drop in certain areas across the southwest border. Why? The drop is more like between a quarter to a third, somewhere in between there. We dropped in arrests from around 4,100 per day down to 2,900 per day. We’ve seen a huge drop, and we have seen drops as much as 65 percent in certain areas.”
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Judd credited President Donald Trump’s threat to use tariffs on Mexican exports with the securing of the U.S.-Mexico “Remain in Mexico” agreement.
“To have a drop within just two weeks of that negotiated deal going into effect, that was a brilliant move on [Donald Trump’s] part,” assessed Judd. “To threaten tariffs, to go after what hurts them the most — the pocketbook — and to force them to actually become true border security partners was absolutely brilliant, and we’re already seeing the dividends.”
Judd went on, “Mexico cannot afford to have tariffs that will destroy their economy. It will hurt them a heck of a lot more than it will hurt us. So yes, I think it will hold as long as Republicans stay strong.”
Mansour invited Judd’s comment on a recently published photo depicting the entwined bodies of a Salvadoran migrant and his 23-month-old daughter who died while attempting to cross the Rio Grande. News media outlets and politicians linked the deaths to Trump.
“I can’t tell you how ticked off I am when I hear people like Chuck Schumer politicize the deaths of individuals,” stated Judd. “That is completely and totally dishonorable, and it’s wrong. Frankly, it’s his fault — it’s Congress’s fault — that we’re in this situation.”
Judd remarked, “These people are crossing the border illegally because they know that Congress will not close the loopholes. They know they’re going to be released. It’s liberal policies that put these people in the hands of the cartels. We constantly hear the liberals say, ‘We care about people,’ but it’s their policies that drive these people into the hands of dangerous cartels. Eighty percent of the women and young girls that cross up through Mexico are raped and abused, yet they don’t do anything to address the problem, yet they’ll politicize their deaths.”
Judd went on: “Those two individuals would most likely not be dead right now if border patrol agents were not babysitting people in processing centers. … If border patrol agents would have been out in the field like they were supposed to be, we would have found these people that are in distress, and they wouldn’t be dead. Those people’s deaths are on the heads of our congressional elected officials like Chuck Schumer.”
Many news media reports regarding a migrant detention facility for children under the age of 18 in Homestead, Florida, are overhyped, determined Judd.
“I’ve spoken with several agents who worked in the facility,” recalled Judd. “I’ve seen firsthand exactly what’s going on. I’ve spoken with those agents. These reports are completely blown out of proportion. The reason that we moved those children out of those facilities was to appease those lawyers and doctors that came in there to see the facility. You have to understand, we have multiple registered nurses in these facilities 24/7 to monitor the health and hygiene of all these individuals in custody.”
Judd continued, “Are these facilities overcrowded? Absolutely. Again, that falls right on Chuck Schumer because he hasn’t given us the funding we need, nor has he closed the loopholes that invite these people to cross the border illegally, yet they’re going to say it’s other peoples’ fault when in fact it falls directly on their laps.”
“We are doing the best job we can possibly do with the resources we are given,” stated Judd.
Judd addressed those opposing the repatriation of migrants to their home countries.
“It’s ridiculous to say we shouldn’t put travel advisories on Mexico and then say we shouldn’t send migrants back to Mexico,” appraised Judd. “It’s safe for Americans to go to Mexico but it’s unsafe to send migrants back to Mexico? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“[Chuck Schumer] has been part of these laws,” said Judd. “He was part of the Secure Fence Act. Nancy Pelosi has been in Congress for years upon years upon years. She is part of the people that implemented the laws we’re enforcing, and now she’s going back saying that we’re bad people because we’re enforcing the laws that she — herself — put in place.”
“This is how you know that these people really don’t care about their country,” added Judd. “They care about themselves. They care about their own re-election bids. … They pander to their voters instead of looking at what is best for this country and [doing] what we need to secure the home front for our own citizens.”
Breitbart News Tonight broadcasts live on SiriusXM Patriot channel 125 weeknights from 9:00 p.m. to midnight Eastern or 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Pacific.
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