Brandon Judd: Tales Of The National Border Patrol
58:41 Share

It's time to take the quiz. Five questions, five minutes a day, five days a week. Take the quiz every weekday at thequiz.fox and then listen to the quiz podcast to find out how you did. Play, share, and of course, listen to the quiz at thequiz.fox. Welcome back to the Jason and the House podcast. I'm Jason Chaffetz. Appreciate you joining us today. We're going to

We're going to phone a friend, Brandon Judd, who is the president of the National Border Patrol Council. You've probably seen him on Fox News, like two dozen years in the Border Patrol. He's going to talk to us a little bit about what's really going on on the border. I've interacted with him quite a bit along the way, learned a ton from him, but we're going to give him a phone call. He'll talk a little bit about what's going on in the news, and then, of course, we're going to highlight the stupid because, you know, there's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere.

But let's start with a little bit about what's going on in the news. You've probably heard by now, it's clearly out there that Joe Manchin, the Democratic senator from West Virginia, has said that there's no way, despite all of his best efforts, that he can support the Build Back Better plan that was coming out of the White House. Now,

What I think is noteworthy here, and again, you've probably seen this and heard this, but the Democrats are just going nuts about this, trying to blame him for this, that, and the other. But I got to tell you, I think the Democrats way overplayed their hand. They're using this tool called reconciliation. And as a quick review, I

Each year, when you pass a budget, you can pass, they go through this process called reconciliation. They reconcile what passes in the House with what passes in the Senate. And in order to get to that, because those that write the rules in the Senate realize that you're going to have to just get a simple majority to get that passed, you don't have to

Go through the filibuster. You don't have to get to that 60 vote cloture vote in order to get to, hey, should we consider the bill? Normally, a bill has to get to 60 votes on whether or not to proceed. And then they vote on it. And then it needs a simple majority. This bypasses all that. So you just need 50 plus one. Well, they're all blaming Joe Manchin. But Joe Manchin's been very clear since the very beginning. A, I think the Democrats are trying to blame everything on Joe Manchin.

Joe Manchin has been very clear on what he wants and what he believes is acceptable.

I think the Democrats overplayed their hand because they thought that they had a mandate. You heard, and we probably should have listened to Bernie Sanders, Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont, before Joe Biden was elected. He said that Joe Biden, if elected, would be the most progressive, the most liberal president in the history of the United States. And you know what?

He's right. He's pretty much turned out to be that. He's taken this progressive New Green Deal thing to the just, I mean, to the far left, the crazy world that I don't think anybody recognized. Remember, the Democrats only have control of the Senate in part because of losing two Senate seats that Republicans did in Georgia, where for each of those votes, I believe, you

You had more than 100,000 people not show up. People that voted for Donald Trump, but when it came to do a runoff, didn't show up and vote in that election. Nevertheless, the Democrats won.

But they've hardly, hardly had a mandate. They didn't have the massive numbers that some of these previous presidents had in the House and the Senate. So what you ultimately have is actually a majority, majority of senators voting no on Build Back Better. That's why they can't proceed. That's why they literally never had in the Senate, never got to a point where they had text.

Nor did they ever get to a point where they passed what's called the Byrd Rule or the Byrd Bath. Senator Byrd was the one that helped craft these rules. I think he was the longest serving senator in the history of the country from West Virginia. And what he did is he set up the rules and basically said, if you're going to do reconciliation, you can do no legislating.

You can pass a bill that has to deal with taxes and revenue and expenditures, but you can't do what the Democrats tried to do, for instance, on immigration and legislate through that process. That requires a separate bill. So again, Democrats never had a text, the text of the bill.

They never had the mandate that they said they did. They overextended and tried to put everything under the sun in the largest bill in the history of the United States of America, something that the Congressional Budget Office said extended out over a 10-year period would cost $5 trillion. And there was just no way that they could do that. And they kind of forgot something along the way, and that is they told the American people, guess what?

This isn't going to cost anything. It's going to be free. Never was going to be free. They kept telling the American people there was a lie. Hey, guess what? It won't cost you anything. Yeah, right. Well, it does cost something. And the CBL, the Congressional Budget Office, said it would cost $5 trillion. Remember, spend a million dollars a day every day. It would take you almost 3,000 years to get to $1 trillion. This thing was going to cost $5 trillion on top of

The tens of trillions of dollars of debt that we already have. All right, enough on that. I want to go to this next thing because this really does have to do with Brandon Judd and the Border Patrol and what's going on. But over at FoxNews.com, I was reading this story just a couple days ago.

A 21-year-old man was apprehended entering the United States via Mexico through Yuma, Arizona. The Border Patrol has broken up into sectors. This is the Yuma sector. And the Chief Patrol Agent Chris T. Clem said that this suspect, he appeared to be wearing a jacket emblazoned with an American flag patch and another that stated, Central Oneida County Volunteer.

What a facade, right? Putting on, oh yeah, let's wear a jacket with an American flag. Ends up that he was a Yemeni. He was from Yemen. That he was a potential terrorist, according to the Border Patrol, and that he was a Yemeni subject of interest. He was a potential terrorist coming across the border. Now, remember, the Border Patrol is putting out record numbers under the Biden administration, the Obama administration,

extension, if you will. The Obama-Biden years were similar, but not nearly as bad as what's going on with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. That border is wide open, and by the hundreds of thousands, people are getting away, going across the border unimpeded. They just happen to capture this one, and it makes you wonder what other type of suspects are getting through. So not just

necessarily innocent people. Oh, I'm just trying to better my life. No, not necessarily. People have figured out how wide open that border is and it is disgusting, it is sickening, and our country is going to pay a heavy, heavy price in a lot of different ways moving forward. Alright, time to bring on the stupid because you know what? There's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. Alright, I got two this week. Not only do we have Senator Elizabeth Warren, but we have...

Representative Ocasio-Cortez, who's a regular, she, of course, was in line on MSNBC blaming Joe Manchin. And here's what she said.

This is a quote. So the idea that Joe Manchin says he can't explain this back home to his people is a farce. I mean, it's a farce in terms of playing democracy because I represent more or just as many or more people than Joe Manchin does. Perhaps more. No, no, you really don't.

You know, as a member of Congress who represents 700,000 to 800,000, West Virginia has about 1.8 million residents, so you're off by a million. It just kind of goes to the ongoing credibility questions about AOC and what she spiels out there. I know she's mad. She's frustrated. She wants everybody to be this crazy, wild liberal that she is, but they're not.

And don't be out there making up lies about Joe Manchin. This is a small one on the big scale of things, but it's just illustrative.

of how stupid you could be by going out there and saying that she represents more people than Joe Manchin does. He's the United States Senator. She's a representative. He represents a million more than her. And those are just the facts. All right, let's get to the next one. I love this one. And you know what? Honestly, I really do believe this. Elizabeth Warren has been, it's been said, diagnosed with COVID. And I hope she does get better. I don't want any...

to go to anybody who contacts this virus. Set that aside for a second. You could still criticize what she says and how she says it and what she does, but Senator Elizabeth Warren was trolling Elon Musk on Twitter World, saying that he was essentially the prime example of why the tax code needs to change, that this rich person was just living off the backs of everybody else.

Well, there was a reason why Elon Musk in the year that she pointed to did not pay taxes. He didn't have any revenue, didn't take a salary, didn't sell any of his assets or properties or anything else. And when you don't have an income and you don't sell anything, you don't pay any taxes. Now, you're going to pay your day-to-day taxes, you know, when you're buying food and that kind of stuff.

but you're not going to be paying the type of taxes that she insists. Well, then Elon just decided to unilaterally tell people that he was paying billions of dollars in taxes this year because he did sell assets, he did sell property, he did sell stock, and he will be the number one contributor to the United States Treasury in the history of our country. He will send in more tax dollars annually

than anybody in the history of our nation.

So shame on you, Elizabeth Warren. If you want to change the tax laws, do it. But don't try to blame Elon Musk. Elon Musk, I tell you, is one of the great entrepreneurs who's created more value and more assets and well-being in our country. He's developed an incredible product that you supposedly tout, which is a green electric vehicle that actually works and that people want and that we will pay money for.

So, I don't know. I just always see the left wanting to punish success. And then you have somebody who does have success. And all they can do is try to beat up on them. And then share a facade that's just absolutely not true. So congratulations, Elon Musk, for being the number one payer of taxes in the history of our country. And to the stupid that Senator Elizabeth Warren brings forward, it's just not warranted.

And that is the stupid. You're listening to Jason in the House. We'll be back with more right after this.

Now it's time to phone a friend because Brandon Judd is just a great guy. 24 years, active agent, president of the National Border Patrol Council. Let's call Brandon Judd. Hey, Jason, how are you? Hey, Brandon Judd. Thank you so much for picking up and taking my call. I appreciate it. Jason, anytime. Well, listen, this is the Jason and I's podcast. And I, you know, I have known you now for a number of years. I met you when I was in Congress and,

And we started diving into immigration. I was on the immigration subcommittee there in the judiciary committee, even though I wasn't an attorney. I asked to be on there because I really wanted to see some things happen.

We didn't do anything until finally I got off of it. But then in the oversight committee, I also ran into you and spent time. And I've been down to the border multiple times. You've helped me out meeting the right people, seeing it firsthand. Everything from riding ATVs and chasing guys up hills in the middle of the night to it was just it's unbelievable what you go through as a Border Patrol agent. It's just it really is amazing.

So apart apart from making fun of you for being a kicker, which I was very envious of, by the way, but I'm still, you know, come on. You got to make fun of somebody for being a kicker. You know, look, the one story that I love telling about Jason Chaffetz was when we were out on the border.

And you brought along one of your staffers. His name was Ryan Little. And he was wearing chukka boots in the desert. Yeah, these are like top sider type shoes, right? Yeah. Boat shoes.

Yeah, and they're like really fancy, really expensive. Very preppy. Yeah, and preppy, and he's wearing them in the desert. So that right there set the tone. It let me know what I was in for. So we had you on the border, and we had every single resource available to us.

We had ATVs, which by the way you were on. We had ATVs, we had helicopters, we had MSS, which is mobile surveillance system. We had horse patrol. We had everything that was out there and you got to go and see what it was like patrolling the border. And sure enough, just like we thought was going to happen, some drug smugglers came across and the video surveillance came

They saw the drug smugglers and you got to be deployed. And I get to tell everybody that with all of these resources out there, and correct me if I'm wrong, Jason, but there were eight smugglers. Is that right? Yeah, I think so. Yeah.

Yeah, so eight smugglers, and they're all carrying these big, heavy 80-pound backpacks, makeshift, they were, makeshift backpacks of marijuana. And I always get to tell everybody that Jason Cott of these eight smugglers, with all these resources out there, Jason Cott, zero of the eight smugglers. Zero. Zero.

Well, so let's put it more in context. Okay, so because that is true. But first of all, I said, look, I want to see it the way it really goes down.

And I was absolutely fascinated out there. It is night. It's very dark. And I've owned ATVs in the past. So I told these guys, listen, I know how to ride. Well, I know how to ride, but I don't know how to ride like a Border Patrol agent knows how to ride. So these guys said, oh, really? Yeah, let's see if you know how to ride. So we are going whipping through this desert as always.

Unbelievable. As fast as you could possibly know. Some of it's on trails. Some of it's off trail. I remember we are not...

a quarter of a mile into it and I saw a rattlesnake in the middle of the kind of dirt and I wanted to stop and look at it. They're like, Jason, we're actually on patrol. We're going to get a call. We need to get to where we're going to get. I wanted to get out and take a picture of the snake. It's a really cool diamondback, but I got a picture of it. So we go out there and I am just following this cloud of dust, eating dust, and I just know, here I am, a member of Congress, these guys just must be laughing and

Like there's no tomorrow, but sure enough, we got out there and given all the surveillance, they could see the smugglers with the night vision goggles. And, but catching them was another thing because these guys, I mean, we're going up and over a hill that is not just a hill. It's like boulders and rocks and you know, there's snakes and spiders and all kinds of stuff in there. There is no trail there.

And we whipped up this thing, and I'm trying so hard to keep up with these guys that know how to do it. We eventually did get the drugs, if you recall, because we were catching up to them. So they dumped their backpacks. That's why we know all the drugs that they caught. And I did this really cool picture with the drugs. But, man, those guys...

They just kept going. And then they started running south again to get back across the border so we wouldn't catch them. So you gave the whole backstory. I personally like my story better because it's just Jason just didn't get the money. No, but you guys did. You guys ended up getting over 400 pounds. I realize that today marijuana in most places is legal, all of that. But back then, I mean, what was that? 2010? Yeah.

around there something like that yeah somewhere some somewhere around there but uh you know and and that was uh that was a big deal 400 pounds of of marijuana back and that was that was a big deal so you guys did get the dope but like i said i i like my story better so i'm gonna stick with my story um i don't bother to tell everybody that that you got the dope i just tell them that you guys didn't get any of the of the smugglers well i thought it was funny because the staffer ryan

could not keep up. He did not, he had not really ridden an ATV to the degree I had. We had to go back and find him because now we essentially had a missing person and, you know, he's, we literally left him in the dust by himself in the middle of the desert, which I had absolutely no problem with. And, uh,

We went back and found them, but this is just one of the experiences. I mean, I've been out there in the helicopters, in the trucks, on foot, and that was one of the amazing things. Like, you've been an active Border Patrol agent for, what, 24 years now? 24 years, yeah. You're the president of the National Border Patrol Council. Yes.

So one of the things we did is we got out on foot and I'm not sure you were with me on this one, but you helped set it up for me. And you know, these agents, they go out by themselves. It's not like they're going with four or five people. They're going out by themselves. You got a radio, got a gun, whatever.

But they're looking for tracks. And these smugglers, these coyotes, know how to cover up these people coming across the border. We're looking for a sign of where they may have crossed a wash or something. But, boy, they are pros at trying to cover it up. I'm looking at exactly the same thing the Border Patrol agent's looking at. And they're like, yeah, a group of people went through here. And I'm like, where? I don't see a footprint. There's nothing. And they're like, yeah, see this? And you watch. And sure enough, we caught up with them.

And, you know, we had one agent, myself, they probably think I'm, but I'm just, you know, the ride-along, essentially. And they take down, like, 14 people with one guy. Yep.

You know, that's what's amazing because people really don't, you know, unless you had a camera out there showing them what we do in the middle of the night. I love working midnight shift. My body doesn't like it, but I love working midnight shift because that's, you know, you're out there by yourself. They can't see you. We can't see them. We just follow their footprints.

But we are. We're out there by ourselves. Normally, we'll have a partner that is up ahead of us or behind us. So we call it pushing the sign or following the tracks, the footprints in the ground. So somebody will get out and they'll start pushing.

pushing the sign, following the footprints. And what you're hoping to do is you're hoping to get another agent ahead of you, whether that's a mile ahead of you, whether that's a couple hundred yards ahead of you, you're trying to get somebody ahead of you and you're giving them a description of where you're headed towards. You're trying to give them markers of, hey, look, I'm headed towards mile post

at 31 on Highway 80, can you get to milepost 31 and can you start working your way south towards me? And I'll give you, you know, if there's a change of direction. And you're trying to get these groups in between the two of you.

Well, this group in between the two of you and, you know, you have an idea of how big the group is by by the number of footprints that there are in the sand or in the dirt, but you don't have an exact number. And oftentimes, yeah, we end up arresting.

50 people with two agents. I personally arrested a group of 56 people with my canine, just me and my canine. That was it. And if it wasn't for my canine, there's no way in the world we would have been able to arrest this group because they were actively trying to evade apprehension

And there is no doubt where we were and how far from the border we were, how far they made it in the short time that they made it. There is no doubt in my mind that they would have fought if it would have just been by myself without my canine partner. And so, yeah, my canine and I, we ended up arresting a group of 56 people by ourselves.

You know, and this is this is a daily occurrence. This is what we see on a daily basis. This is what our agents do. They work by themselves. They track groups. Sometimes they have cameras that have the groups on camera and the camera will lead us in to the group. But, you know, it's it's really exciting.

It can be at times dangerous if they think that there's a reward to them fighting with us. It can be dangerous. You know, the Ivy family, you know exactly what happened in that situation. Brian Terry, the the agent that was murdered by a rip crew. I knew him personally. I trained him at a checkpoint.

So, you know, this stuff does, it can be very dangerous at times. But let me tell you, it's pretty dadgum exciting. And you saw that. You got to see that firsthand, which most people just don't get to see. Yeah, you know, it's a shame. I hear about President Biden said he's never been to the border. And I, you know, I don't know how you be in Congress and vice president and everything else for 50 years and never make time to go down there. I think everybody should be down there. Such vital importance to our national security and understanding and seeing what the

Literally, you know, what are there, 20-something thousand Border Patrol agents? How many are? There are. Well, it's right at 19,500 right now nationwide. But, you know, that covers the entire 1,900 miles on the southwest border. It also covers the full border on the northern border. We also have agents in coastal areas.

areas in Miami, Florida, well, in the state of Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi. So we have, I'm sorry, not Mississippi, Alabama. So we have agents nationwide. And for as big as our borders are, 19,500 is not that many agents when you consider that we work shifts. So there was another instance where I had gone down, I think this was in the Yuma sector,

And, um, I got all excited because sure enough, as soon as we, I went through the briefing, met all the brass, but all the people I was supposed to meet. Right. But I was really excited to go out with the agents and we get in the car. We're not in the car two minutes. And sure enough, call comes across that. We got these six people that had just crossed the river, uh,

And I'm thinking, hey, we're going to go lights and sirens. Let's go catch these guys. I want to see them chase them and tackle them and all that. And they're like, Jason, what are you talking about? And they're like, easy, easy. We got them. They're just going to wait for us. And I said, wait a sec. They're going to wait for us?

And what are you talking about? Like, I seriously was clueless as to what was going to happen. And they said, no, no, Jason, you don't understand. They want to get caught. And I said, well, I'm not understanding this. And he said, well, based on what was coming across the radio, these were not smugglers. They were human smugglers. And they said, we don't think that they're Mexicans. We think there's some other nationality.

So sure enough, we get there and there were six Romanians, but they wanted to get caught. And I just, it was dumbfounded by this. Explain what's going on in a situation like that.

like that. So we call those give ups. There's two different types of people that cross the border illegally. You have the ones that cross the border and they give up. They want to be caught because they know that they're going to be processed and released with either an NTA or paroled into the United States or in essence, they're going to be rewarded for violating our laws. Notice to appear, right? An NTA is a notice to appear. I'm sorry, that's correct. Notice to appear, which means that they're supposed to show up

to a court date some future time down the road, which they never do. But that's the reason why they want to get caught, because they know that once they get released into the United States, they get to disappear into what President Obama termed the shadows of society. So that's one group, the give ups, the ones that cross the border illegally and they give up. And then there's the ones that actively try to evade apprehension. Those are the ones that will fight. Those are the ones that have a reason, criminal records,

maybe from special interest countries. But those are the ones that have a reason to try to evade apprehension and escape. And so those are the two different types that we deal with. Now, the reason why it's so important that Biden comes down to the border right now is unless you see it firsthand, unless you have a clear understanding of what is going on,

You're not as likely to develop the policies or programs to help this situation get under control. I remember when Vice President Pence came down to the border in 2019, and it was in McAllen, Texas, and he saw firsthand exactly what was going on. Within two weeks, we had new policies.

to help us get the situation under control because he saw firsthand what needed to be done. And he was more willing, having seen it, he was more willing to put the effort into it, to getting us the resources and what we needed to get that situation under control. And so, yeah, I mean, it's very disappointing. President Biden's been a senator for, I don't know, how many years, 40 years he was a senator for, I believe. The vice president, uh,

under President Obama for eight years. And the only time that he's been to the border, I mean, let's be clear on this because everybody says, well, he went to El Paso. He was traveling through El Paso. He was not there specifically to see the border and what the situation was. He was simply traveling through El Paso. So yeah, I mean, it's horrible. It's horrible. Yeah. You know, I once went down to the border, but I wanted to go see the consulate because the word

At the time, during the Obama administration, the Homeland Security was telling us, oh, the border's safe. You know, it's very safe. It's not very dangerous. And I said, okay, well, we have an American consulate in Mexico just across the border. So I want to go to it. And boy, they put up all kinds of resistance. And so finally, I got into this convoy, bulletproof vehicles.

Crossed the border into Mexico. They brought me right to the consulate with the regional security officer and other armed personnel guarding me and went right into the American consulate. Now, when I ended up interviewing and talking to the staff that is working there, they told me how difficult that assignment was.

they were not allowed to cross back and forth across the border. In fact, they had to live on the compound. They could not go into the town because they're so dangerous. There's so much gunfighting, so little belief in the local law enforcement. The murders were happening on a regular basis close by. It was worse than I thought it was going to be, but it was so totally contradictory to what the administration was telling us. And

And so I know you've got a strong union there and you got your hands full as the Border Patrol president and trying to explain to people and the administration and members of Congress what in the world is really actually going down on the border. What sort of resources that you guys need? When you came down, you had a much better appreciation for what was happening, even though you had an idea. You'd heard the story. You'd read the news.

You'd seen on TV some of the things that were going on, but being down here personally gave you a greater appreciation. When you had that appreciation, at least I know when you were the chairman of the oversight committee, you were a lot more willing to do what was necessary to help us secure the border than had you have never gone down there. And again, that's why it's so disappointing that President Biden hasn't been here.

You're listening to Jason in the House. We'll be back with more of my conversation with Brandon Judd right after this. So let's talk for a second about a new border. Somebody grows up and says, hey, you know what? I want to join the Border Patrol. You know, that sounds more exciting, sounds dynamic, sounds like my personality. I like being in the outdoors.

helping our country. What is a new, freshly minted Border Patrol agent? What do they go through in terms of training? And what do they make in terms of a salary? It's right out of the chute. Well, under the Obama, I'm sorry, under the Biden administration, I would tell everybody, run away as fast as you possibly can. Do not join the Border Patrol under the Biden administration. So despite that warning, what would, what would, some people still do. So what happens?

So they go through a four-month academy.

And this is equivalent to a police academy. And in that academy, you're going to learn defensive driving tactics. You're also going to learn offensive driving tactics, which are very important. You're going to learn all of the different laws that we enforce and how to properly use those laws in making arrests or adjudicating certain cases. You're going to learn, you're going to have to go through

a lot of physical training. You have to be physically prepared to be able to do this job. You know, it's very funny because what keeps most of us out of physical altercations is that presence that we're able to develop people understanding that, hey, these guys know what they're doing. So you have to go through an awful lot of physical training

to be able to do this job. And of course, you're going to go through firearms training as well, because you have to be proficient, not just to shoot the pad guys, if it is warranted, but also to ensure that there's a protection of the American public as well. And that's why we go through the firearms training that we do. Yeah, like any law enforcement. So with all that, you get the privilege of making how much money?

Well, so we actually make a good amount. Out of the academy, you're probably going a base salary. I think it's right around $55,000, but then you get 25% on top in a base overtime, which by the way, you did. But we get a base overtime right off the top. And we do work some long hours. We work 10 hours a day, five days a week.

So we work 50 hours a week, not just 40 hours a week. But, you know, coming right out of the academy, you're probably going to be making right around 70, $75,000, depending upon what part of the United States you go to, because there are different locality pays that are available depending upon where you go. But you're looking at about 70, 75, but, you know, you're going to be up to a hundred. That's better than I thought it was going to be. I thought you were going to tell me a number that was like half as much.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no. We are very well compensated now after the work that you did on the Oversight Committee. We are very well compensated. Still need to get a little bit better to have parity with our sister agencies. A little bit more work needs to go so that we have that parity. But yeah, federal law enforcement does make a...

Okay, good, good, good. Fairly well compensated, yes. So tell me, just tell us a little bit more about yourself. We see a lot on the, you know, being the spokesperson essentially. I mean, given the Border Patrol Council president, we see it quite frequently. But what compelled you? Like when you were growing up, did you say, oh, yeah, this is what I want to do? Tell us a little bit about growing up and how you kind of got to and gravitated to that point.

So I always knew that I wanted to be in some sort of law enforcement. I didn't know if it was going to be a police officer, FBI, ATF, DEA. Didn't even know if I wanted to be a lawyer and become a prosecuting attorney. But I grew up in the military. My father was a he's a he's a retired lieutenant colonel.

from the army and i moved around my entire life um i the the earliest recollection that i have was in fort rucker alabama where i went to kindergarten um from fort rucker moved to uh fort bliss texas from fort bliss to um fort huachuca arizona from there we uh my father actually left the military for a time and became a police officer in houston texas

But because of midnight shifts and the stress that there are on families in police work, my mom really didn't like it. And she encouraged him to get back in the military.

So he did. He went, got another commission, went back in the military and from Houston, Texas. We went back to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and then from Fort Huachuca, Arizona to Seoul, South Korea. And from there to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. And you did move around a lot. Holy cow. Yeah, quite a bit. And then I. So why'd you settle? Why'd you settle on the Border Patrol?

So I was in college at the time. I was newly married. I was in college at the time. And my father, you know, he had worked JTF6 missions and

He highly encouraged me. He said, look, I think this is something that you would really enjoy. Why don't you apply? It takes about two years to get in the Border Patrol. You know, you got two more years of school. Then you'll be ready to jump in after you get your degree. And so I applied and I did something different. I did not go through the normal hiring. I went through what was called expedited hiring. From the time that I applied until the time that I was in the academy was right at two months, right?

And so I actually left college to go to the academy and I joined the board patrol. And while in the board patrol, I got involved in, I always been interested in politics. And I recognized that there was this huge niche

where, you know, if we did the right things, the union, if you will, the National Border Patrol Council, which I'm the president of, we could have a huge political influence, which was just completely and totally underserved, which needed to be there because the American public needs to know what goes on. And so I ran and

ended up becoming the president of the National Border Patrol Council. I started up our media program, our media outreach and our political activities. And from there, we've gained the notoriety that we have because we're out there telling what actually takes place on the border, giving the American public a true view of what's going on. And the American public has been very interested in

Yeah. So let's go back to Brandon. He graduated. Now you're in the Border Patrol, and it's your first day that you're actually going to go out and do something outside of the classroom. How'd that go down? Wow. So this is a very interesting agency. I'm not going to call it hazing, but when you're a trainee, back when I, you know, 24 years ago, there was a lot that they expected you to do.

to do it was it was keep your head down keep your mouth shut but you know one of the one of my very first days i i was taken out to a spot i was told here's your rock sit on this rock watch this uh watch this valley and if anything comes out out call out on the radio and get down in there and chase it and sure enough that's exactly what happened my journeyman if you that that's what we that's what they were called they were called journeyman your training agent

Um, knew darn good and well that there was going to be groups coming down through that Valley, um, knew that, uh, that it was going to test me immediately to see how I would be able to handle it, um, to see what, what, you know, whether or not I would do everything that's right, which is get behind him,

call, try to get people ahead of me. Um, so yeah, right from day one, it was all excitement from day one. And I, I just happened to get lucky in, in my first sector that I was sent to was the busiest sector at that time, which was all central California. So, you know, right from the get go, it was, it was, um,

chasing people, trying to make apprehensions and arresting people that cross the border illegally. So that was day one. Explain to us though, compared to day one, how bad and how, what's it like today? Because the numbers that I keep hearing and seeing are just, I mean, it's really hard to fathom how big and how pervasive this problem is. Well, that's why I would tell everybody to run right now. Um,

Very few border patrol agents are actually out patrolling the border right now. I was just in Yuma, Arizona yesterday, and I was appalled to see what was going on. I drove down large stretches of border and there just there weren't any agents around. The vast majority of our agents, upward of 90 percent of the agents were

were in processing. They were processing people that were giving up. And Jason, let me tell you why that's so upsetting to me is you do not have to have a sworn law enforcement officer processing people. Anybody can do processing.

But because these cartels have become so adept at dictating to us what our operations are going to be, they recognize that all they have to do is flood us in certain areas. It pulls our agents out of the field. We have to put them in processing or doing clerical paperwork the entire time while nobody's on the border. And while nobody's on the border, they're then able to cross their opioids or fentanyl, their higher value criminal aliens.

even aliens from special interest countries, they're creating these artificial gaps in our coverage and they're crossing people simply because our policies of catch and release, our policies of letting people go or rewarding them for violating our laws is allowing smugglers to go into over 151 different countries

advertise their services, convince people that they're going to be able to get them for several thousands of dollars. They're going to be able to get people to our borders and they're going to be able to get them into the United States and they're ultimately going to be released. So these cartels, they advertise our services based upon our policies and our policies is what's putting agents in processing rather than on the border, patrolling the border and keeping the American public safe. It's completely disgusting.

what you will see if you're down on the border today. So I think a lot of people will kind of understand the drug smuggling. I think that's, my guess is people can kind of relate to that and can sort of imagine that. But talk to us for a moment, and it's hard to hear it, but what's going on with the human smuggling, particularly these women and young women?

Because I was, it was so disgusting and so shocking and so sad of what's going on with the smuggling part of particularly what these women are going through. You know, that's always difficult. I personally was there. I was following a group, trying to apprehend this group and

And I was there when a woman took her last breath of life because the smugglers left her to die. She couldn't keep up. And she was a younger woman. She was in her 20s. And she couldn't keep up for one reason or another. And they left her there. And unfortunately, we just did not find her in time.

and she took her last breath of life while I was there. And that's what we see all day long. I didn't wanna make this a political conversation, but I can't tell this without pointing a simple fact out. You've got the Democrats that claim to be the party that cares about people, yet it's their policies that are encouraging

vulnerable women and children to put themselves in the hands of these criminal cartels. Now, these criminal cartels, all they care about is profit. They do not care about life. They do not care about whether or not these people are taken care of. All they care about is getting them here and getting those billions of dollars that they're able to make every single year. And it's based upon Democrat politics.

policies that are allowing them to generate this profit. And what happens is when they go into these countries and they advertise their services, once women and children put themselves in their hands on their journey up to the United States, these women and children

They are abused. They're abused physically, they're abused mentally, and of course, they are abused sexually. And even at times, they're murdered. And it's all driven by policy here in the United States. When you listen to people talk about root causes, these causes have existed for as long as I've been alive. The root cause that truly drives illegal immigration

to the United States is our policies right here. When we reward people for violating our laws,

they're going to take that chance to put themselves in the hands of these criminal organizations they're going to make that very dangerous journey where where at some times they're not ultimately going to arrive their destination because they're murdered um they're going to be sexually abused um and they know this and they understand this i mean we have dealt with children um whose parents have sent them and we're talking children as young as 10 years old um

that are already on birth control because their parents knew that they were going to be sexually abused while they were making their journey here to the United States. So, yeah, it's completely when we talk about this great country that we have and we do have a great country.

But you would never think that our policies would allow these things to take place. And it is. It is policy driven. With the right policies, we can control everything that takes place on the border. But if politics gets involved, if you have, and it doesn't matter whether it's Republican or Democrat, if they're willing to pander to their base and only worry about what their base constituents are

want them to do, rather than what's best for both the United States and these vulnerable women and children, we're going to continue to see this over and over and over again. Well, that's what's so sad is it is preventable. And there are so many good men and women who are serving on the Border Patrol, but you also need assets, you need things like a wall, you need the right

helicopters and airplanes and drones and all. There's so many assets and resources. It really is when you go down there and see how sophisticated the cartels are with their encrypted radios and their surveillance mechanisms. And it's a fight. It's a real fight. And most people, they just don't

You got to go down there and see it and feel it. But for those of you that are doing it day in and day out, more power to you because, yeah, it's got to be nothing more frustrating than some person who wants to go out there and make a difference and they're sitting in a processing center trying to put down a name and take a picture. And it's just like knowing that they're doing this on purpose, flooding the zone, so to speak, so that all these other people can just flow across the border. So I really feel for you.

And it's one of the reasons why we have one of the highest attrition rates in the federal government. If we were actually doing the job that we signed up to do, if we were actually, you know, when we put on that uniform and this is law enforcement across the nation, this just is not this is not indicative of border patrol agents. But your police officers, your highway patrolmen, your county sheriffs, you know, all of these people are.

When we put that uniform on, we're doing it because we have a great desire to protect the American public. We want to ensure that the rule of law is upheld so that we maintain our freedoms. It's laws that give us these freedoms. And once that rule of law is gone, our freedoms are taken away. And when we put that uniform on, we go out there with the intent to protect the American public day in and day out.

And if it wasn't for this great desire to do exactly that, to protect the American public, you know, we would be demoralized. We wouldn't want to put that uniform on. We wouldn't go out there every single day. So I am grateful to, to border patrol agents. I'm grateful to law enforcement around the nation, even in the face of calls for defunding the police, even in the, the face of the attacks that we get, you know, people don't see this because the,

These aren't the videos that show up, but our police officers, our law enforcement officers are being spit on. They're being verbally abused every single day and there's nothing they can do about it. They have to sit there and they have to take it.

Do you know how difficult that is? You know how difficult it is to take it when you have people that are yelling obscenities at you, telling you that they're going to rape your wife, they're going to kill your children, and there's nothing you can do about it because the county attorney's office or the city attorney's office or even the U.S. attorney's

refuse to prosecute so you can't even take them into custody because they're just going to be released anyway. You know, it's a very difficult job right now because these very, very, you know, if you will, anarchists or even these people that are preaching socialism, you know, what they're doing is they're destabilizing everything that we see. And that's why you see this crime that's on the rise everywhere in the United States.

And that crime is also on the rise on our borders. And if we do not look at this and if we do not start to hold our elected officials accountable, if we do not hold their feet to the fire, this is going to continue. And I just right now, I just don't see an end in sight. And it's very disturbing and it's very frustrating and upsetting.

from somebody that's in the law enforcement profession, knowing that our politicians are willing to throw us under the bus so that they can get reelected because they're pandering to their base rather than what's best for the American public. I've seen that up close and personal. And

Like I said, when I got to know you when I was in Congress and I see that and hear it in your voice. And I know there are so many people out there like you who just they want to serve their country. They want to do the right thing. They're frustrated by the politicians and the lack of policy enforcement and prosecution where there should be prosecution. So I hear you on that. All right. I do have to ask you, though, because we're concluding the Jason in the House podcast. We always have to ask you some rapid questions.

And so I don't care how many people you've arrested down on the border. You're not properly prepared for this. But if you're OK, I'm going to ask you the rapid questions. All right. Red, blue. Here we go. Here we go. You ready?

You ready? Yep, I'm ready. Favorite vegetable? Banana. Oh, that's a fruit. I will tell you the most, a lot of people do not get this question right. They name something that's not a vegetable, but that's more power to you. If you think that's a vegetable, how about it? At least it's healthy. Cucumber. All right, go on. Cucumber. All right, favorite fruit? Banana. Okay, there you go.

What was your high school mascot? I know you moved around a lot, but when you graduated, what was your high school mascot? Tiger. Because there were a lot of tigers. Where did you graduate? St. David, Arizona. Absolutely, there are. Yeah, a lot of tigers there. That makes sense. First concert that you ever attended? Kiss, Crazy Nights Tour.

Kiss. All right. Crazy nights. There you go. Did you have a pet growing up? Yeah, a dog. I had several dogs. That's good. And you're doing canines now. That's good. Life's most embarrassing moment. Oh, heavens.

Do you really want to know? Yeah, no, I really want to know. I like to tell people nobody listens to my podcast anyway. Just tell me. Nobody will hear it. Let's just say that I'm banned from the Cannon Building on the Hill. The Cannon Building is at the campus of Brigham Young University there in Utah. No, no, no, no. I'm talking about the U.S. Congress Cannon Building. Oh, the Cannon Building. Oh, okay. Okay.

Yeah, so I wasn't feeling – well, I was really sick, and I had meetings on the Cannon Building, and my stomach was very upset. And I got off the subway, and I ran in, and I says, hey, where's the nearest restroom? You know, this is Capitol Police. And they said right there. I ran in, and it was filled. The bathroom was filled, and I wasn't going to make it. Well, there was one stall that was open. It was a mop basin. So let's just –

So you left your mark in the halls of kindness. I did. All right. That's good. I did, Jason. I did. I'm not really banned, but that was a very embarrassing moment. All right. Well, you fessed up to it. That's good for you. All right. So if you and your wife could have like one person over and say, hey, honey, guess what? We got somebody coming for dinner tonight, dead or alive. One person. Who would you invite over for dinner?

Well, my wife would invite Matthew McConaughey, and I don't get it. I don't get it. I'm better looking than the dude. I know I am. But my wife would invite Matthew McConaughey. Okay. Yeah, I kind of get that. I sort of understand that. The dude's pretty cool. Yeah. What about you? All right.

You know, I'm going to have to go with sports. I would invite my favorite kicker, which would be Jason Chaffetz. Oh, my gosh. That is such a cop-out. Oh, my goodness. No, no, no, no. Honestly, Dale Murphy. Dale Murphy is who I would invite. Dale Murphy, the former Atlanta Brave. Yeah. He's an amazing athlete and just a great person. I've had a chance to...

to know him a little bit along the way. All right. A big question here. Pineapple on pizza. Yes or no? Yes, absolutely. Well, this from the guy who thinks it's bananas or vegetables. But not, but, but Jason, not with Canadian bacon, pineapples with, uh, with pepperoni. A wet fruit on a piece of pizza is just not, the judges do not like this answer.

The judges are dead wrong. All right. I got a couple quick more. Best advice you ever got. Oh, gosh.

Best advice I ever got. This was supposed to be rapid fire. I'm sorry. Throw the football straight. I love football. I was a quarterback in high school. Throw the football straight. That was the best advice I ever got. Yeah, there's a lot of truth to that. If you think that's good. Favorite item at Taco Bell? The Chalupa, for sure. Chalupa is the number one answer, and I think the judges do like this answer. It's a good answer. If you weren't on the Border Patrol, what would you be doing? If you said, hey, no law enforcement, honey.

Your wife said, no, we're done with that. What would you be doing? I'd be a rock star. You'd be a rock star. Kiss plus Brandon Judd.

You could be one of the Judds. Hair metal bands? You could be Naomi Judd or something, you know? You know, they're good. They're good. I would be better. I would be better. I'd be in a hair metal band. That's a bold answer. That is a bold answer. All right, last question. Who's your favorite oversight chairman from Utah's third congressional district? That would be – he wasn't from Utah. He was from California, actually. Yeah, see, I don't always win this answer. I don't always win this question. Okay.

Brandon Judd. You did a good job. You did a good job as the chairman. You did. I was surprised when you left. We worked hard. We got out there and got our fingernails dirty. I still remember going with Congressman Blake Farenthold from Texas out there. Oh my gosh, it was so hot. It was so humid. And we are

Going through this brush like you wouldn't believe was taller than us and all these prickly plants. And I mean, we were sweating so hard. I've never sweated so hard in my life. And I thought, these guys do this every night.

And there's not always a nice person on the other end of where they're chasing. They're chasing a lot of bad dudes. So it's amazing what you do and how you do it. And I hope you and the other Border Patrol agents know how much America loves what you do and they care for you and they're feeling for you when we see such a disaster that is avoidable down on the border. So thank you for joining us.

Well, thanks. Thanks for having me. It was a good talk. All right. Brandon Judd, National Border Patrol Council President, 24-year active agent. And thanks for joining us on the Jason in the House podcast. Anytime, Jason. You have a good one. Merry Christmas.

I can't thank Brandon Judd enough. And I can't thank all the men and women who are out there and serve, you know, during the holidays, raining, shining, super hot, super muggy, super cold, whatever it is, they're out there serving our nation. Difficult situation, right?

dealing with people they have no idea who they're coming across. Very dangerous job. And to the loved ones that send those people out and trust that they're going to come back as one, you know, the way they're supposed to. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. These people really are heroes of mine and I've seen them up close and personal doing what they do and be glad they're Americans that will step up and do that job because it is a tough one. So thanks to Brandon Judd for joining us and thanks for listening to the Jason and the House podcast.

Appreciate it if you could rate this thing and this podcast and then also subscribe to it so you can get another great show. Go back and look at the library of interviews that we've done before. I think and hope you really do enjoy it. So stay with us. We'll be back with more next week. I'm Jason Chaffetz. This has been Jason in the House.

Pull up a chair and join me, Rachel Campos Duffy, and me, former U.S. Congressman Sean Duffy, as we share our perspective on the discussions happening at kitchen tables across America. Download From the Kitchen Table, The Duffys, at foxnewspodcasts.com or wherever you download podcasts.