Last week, Glenn found himself in the company of a strange bedfellow as he agreed with Shawn Moran, spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council – the union that represents Border Patrol agents. Moran spoke out in defense of border patrol agents whose rights are being violated.
According to reports, a U.S. Border Patrol manager in Tucson, Arizona has forbidden agents from bringing cellphones or any electronic devices to work after photographs were leaked several weeks ago showing hundreds of children being housed at the overcrowded Nogales processing center. Moran condemned the manager’s actions as a violation of the established, collectively-bargained guidelines.
On Tuesday's Glenn Beck Program, Moran joined guest host Dana Loesch to discuss the "number one" thing the United States must do thwart the influx of illegal immigrants crossing the border. It begins with enforcing the laws on the books.
"The number one thing we need to do is close the loophole. We have to stop releasing people," Moran said emphatically. "I know it tugs at the heartstrings when it’s children, but we cannot allow people to be released. That’s their end goal. They want to get to America, and we’re facilitating that."
It is expected that some 60,000 children will attempt to cross the border this year alone. Earlier this month, President Obama called the surge of unaccompanied illegal immigrant children an “urgent humanitarian situation,” and the White House asked Congress for an extra $1.4 billion in federal money to help cope with this problem. President Obama said the U.S. would continue to house the children at various military bases.
Moran believes this troubling trend will continue until the catch and release policy is changed.
“I don’t know if there is an end in sight to this if we continue to allow people to be released,” he said. “Until we see something in a change of policy, people are going to continue to come here.”
Our border patrol forces are depleted because of the administrative backlog the skyrocketing number of crossings has created. According to Moran, “about 45% of our people” are stuck inside doing administrative work, rather than actually securing our border.
"So that leaves about half our people out in the field. And the cartels know this, so they’re orchestrating these crossings and having people surrender to us instead of going to a port of entry where they could more safely surrender. They would not have to go across a river, would not have to jump a border fence or risk their lives in those ways," Moran explained. "And the outcome would be the same if they surrendered at a port of entry, but the cartels are doing this because then it ties up border patrol agents on the ground and allows them to follow on with their drugs, weapons, special interest aliens, what have you."
While Moran admits this is obviously a "difficult" situation, the problem is only getting worse. When asked at what point this crisis becomes "critical," Moran said that time has passed.
"Is this problem getting worse," Dana asked. "I mean at what point do you hit critical with this?"
"I think we did that probably about six to eight months ago, and just nobody really was paying attention," Moran concluded. "It’s only in the last month that this story has really come to the forefront."