Breitbart Texas announced its sponsorship of a podcast hosted by the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC). The purpose of the podcast, titled “The Green Line,” is to improve communications to its nearly 17,000 non-supervisory Border Patrol agents. Breitbart News Co-Founder, President and CEO Larry Solov, Breitbart Texas Managing Director Brandon Darby, and reporter Ildefonso Ortiz traveled to Phoenix to meet with the Border Patrol union officials and launch this effort to support the agents who put their lives on the line to protect the sovereignty of this country.
NBPC Vice President Shawn Moran and Agent Thane Gallagher welcomed Breitbart Texas to the show by talking about Brandon Darby’s series of articles from last summer that changed the national dialog on border security. “For quite a while, we were having an influx of juveniles through the south Texas area, the Rio Grande Valley,” Moran began. “For those that work there, they know that the only people reporting on it were media outlets from the valley.” He said agents along the border would tell him they were being overrun and “nobody knows about it.”
“I was sitting there talking to CNN and Fox News,” Moran explained, “and nobody wanted to do a thing about it.” Moran contacted Darby and suggested he go down to The Valley and see what was happening with his own eyes. “He was one of the first reporters to go down there and really expose what was going on,” he said about Darby. “His stories were really the thing that sparked the interest and it exploded from there. It became one of the biggest stories in the country for about six months.”
Moran announced Breitbart Texas’ sponsorship of their internet radio podcast. “It’s because of the generosity of Breitbart Texas,” he explained, “we’ve been able to upgrade the sound of the show and the abilities of the show.”
Larry Solov responded, “It’s us that have gratitude. You guys have a really tough job facing all of the obstacles that you do… We’ve got your back and we want to be supportive in any and all ways that we can.”
“I’m not a big fan of unions at all,” Darby interjected, “I love this union. If it weren’t for this union, the American public, the people who still respect law and order and who still respect this nation, would have no information except for the few times that I can leak information from someone. There would be no information.”
“Without that public support, you guys would be very alone,” Darby expressed. “You have every force in this country, almost, mobilized against you for political reasons. You have all of the media, almost, mobilized against you – your leadership is mobilized against you because most of them are politically appointed by people who I really think don’t like you and they don’t like what you do and they want as many people to come in as possible. It’s unbelievable, the lack of support that you guys get.”
Darby discussed how the media works against Border Patrol agents and distorts the truth. He cited examples of the media downplaying the seriousness of the danger of rocks being thrown at agents. Darby compared the attacks against the Border Patrol agents by left-of-center media to the attacks he personally went through when he exposed the militant activities of left-wing violent activists. “I know what it feels like to have the media turn on you,” he explained. “I worked with the FBI. We worked and we helped stop a bomb plot at the Republican National Convention. When my name came out, the media and everyone turned on me and they demonized the men and women I served with.”
Darby said that when Andrew Breitbart found him under a vicious attack by the media and how the media would bully him when he tried to respond, Andrew gave him a voice and a platform to speak from. “It is natural and in the DNA of Breitbart News that we would defend law enforcement agents and officers who were under attack.”
Darby said when he saw the way the media distorted information about Border Patrol agents, he felt an immediate relationship to the agents. “I know what that feels like,” he said. “At the time Shawn came into my life, that’s when I really started to understand that it wasn’t just a media issue against agents, it was actually people in positions of power in the government who were seemingly doing everything in their power to get in your way.”
Moran discussed the work Darby has done along the border in trying to really understand what agents are confronted with. “He’s been out there, trying to get things from our viewpoint,” Moran told the live audience. “He talks to a lot of Border Patrol Agents.” Moran said Darby has taken an incessant number of trips to the border and has probably walked more of the border than any Border Patrol agent. He said Darby talks to agents and anyone else he runs into along the way.
Breitbart Texas recently began a project called “Cartel Chronicles.” The effort involves Brandon Darby and Ildefonso Ortiz traveling into Mexican border cities that are under the control of the infamous Gulf Cartel. They meet with citizen journalists who clandestinely report and expose organized crime and public corruption in northern Mexico.
Moran asked Darby how the project began. Darby responded that Ortiz, Breitbart Texas’ reporter who focuses on reporting on criminal activities of the various cartels operating in Mexico and the United States, was from Mexico originally and has contacts who were citizen journalists operating secretly in Mexico. Many professional journalists have been killed trying to get out the truth about cartel activities. “There’s a few citizen journalists who actually use Twitter and social media,” Darby explained, “to expose these cartels. Some of them have gotten caught and killed for doing it. So we figured the least we could do is bring a voice to those people.”
Darby said his goal was to give them a bigger platform from which to get out their message. “Instead of them using Twitter and Facebook,” he stated, “Let’s provide them, in English and in Spanish, let’s provide them an outlet to fully express themselves because they’re risking their lives.”
Darby and Moran spent the better part of an hour sharing examples of judicial and other governmental interference in the daily activities of Border Patrol agents. They also discussed how the activities of activist groups are attempting to restrict the self-defense capabilities of the agents on the line.
Gallagher discussed the lack of follow-up from Border Patrol officials after an agent is killed. “In this agency,” he said, “if you die tomorrow – they move on — they forget about you. It’s our job to make sure that we all remember each other because nobody in D.C. really cares.” The panel discussed methods of raising money to support and assist families of Border Patrol Agents.
The podcast ends with a question and answer period where agents were able to talk directly with the Breitbart Texas team members who were attending their event in Phoenix. One of the agents told Darby “You guys are the only ones in media that get us.” That is not by accident. It is because Brandon Darby and the Breitbart Texas team have made the effort others should make to see what really happens along the border and see it from the perspective of those who we call upon do defend our borders.
Bob Price is a senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and on Facebook.
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