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Border Security is National Security

Ask yourself the following questions:

Do I care who and what comes into my personal home?

Is wanting to control who and what comes into my personal home wrong? Why?

When someone arrives at my home, what do I expect them to do?

In almost every society around the world the social norm is to present yourself at the established entry point, normally the front door. It is also a social norm to present oneself during reasonable hours and ask permission to enter. You likely don’t think about it, but every time you answer your door you do a quick threat assessment before you decide if you will allow the person in or not. Even if subconscious, you likely quickly process a few key factors as simple as if you know the person or not. Is the person behaving in a normal and customary way, or are they acting irrational or belligerent? If you do not recognize the person, you are likely to assess if their appearance fits into the social norms and culture for your area. Like it or not, humans are hard wired to conduct this type of quick threat assessment, and you should embrace it and make it more intentional, but that is a discussion for another time.

It is commonly accepted, and in most states codified in law that if someone attempts to enter your home without your permission, especially if it is forcibly, elusively, somewhere other than the front door, or outside normal hours, that they can reasonably be perceived as a threat. You have a right to prevent uninvited individuals from entering your home. Sound Reasonable?

Homeland Security/Border Security is the same as your personal home. In the simplest terms, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has the statutory mission to know and control who and what enters our national home on your behalf. US law requires everyone to come to our front door, one of 328 legally established Ports of Entry, and ask permission to enter. Even US citizens are required to use the front door.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection includes the Office of Field Operations and the US Border Patrol. CBP officers and Border Patrol agents and are not simply “immigration police”. They are border security professionals tasked with protecting you from threats that emanate from outside our borders. The Office of Field Operations has CBP officers standing by at every Port of Entry where they meet every person seeking legal entry, evaluate each item being imported, apply the immigration and customs laws that have been duly enacted by the U.S Congress, and determine what does and does not meet the established criteria for entry in the U.S.

US Border Patrol agents are responsible for making sure everyone enters our home (USA) through the front door – one of those 328 POE’s. USBP agents work diligently to detect and interdict anyone who is trying to sneak into our home without going through the front door, a Port of Entry. Border Security is National Security. It really is that simple. It is not racist, it is not xenophobic, it is the social and legal norm around the world, and it applies equally to everyone.

Border security is controlling the initial entry of any person or thing into the U.S. Immigration policy is only about people, and specifically foreign nationals.

Border security is simply knowing and controlling who and what is entering our country, our home. Border security operations are designed to enforce compliance with existing U.S. laws that govern the importation and exportation of any item and the entry of foreign nationals. While border security operations are not restricted to a geographical line or boundary, they are primarily focused on controlling the entry of a person or thing.

Immigration policy is a common phrase used to explain how the immigration and naturalization laws of the United States, as codified by the U.S. Congress in U.S Code Title 8, are applied and enforced. Immigration policy is about people, it includes the enforcement of immigration laws at the border and throughout the county. Immigration policy broadly includes the enforcement of visa limitations imposed on legal visitors such work restrictions and time limitations. It also includes employer audits and sanctions to ensure that only U.S. Citizens and legal aliens authorized to work within the US are legally employed.

The enforcement of immigration laws is a critical component of border security. However, it is only one aspect and is not synonymous with border security. Historically, periods of lax enforcement of immigration laws have resulted in significant increases in illegal entry in between the ports of entry. Significant numbers of illegal border crossings have cascading negative effects on the ability of U.S. Border Patrol to effectively detect and interdict everyone. Transnational criminal organizations, commonly referred to as cartels leverage illegal immigration to distract and overwhelm law enforcement so they can smuggle high value contraband such as narcotics into the U.S. with reduced risk of being caught.

I have nearly three decades of nonpartisan border security experience

Promoted through the ranks from field agent to Chief, US Border Patrol

Career professional

• Nonpartisan

• Never a political appointee

• Chief, under President Biden and President Trump

The Border Wall system is a critical investment that provides the U.S taxpayer a significant return on investment and was designed and recommended by career U.S. Border Patrol personnel well before the Trump administration took office.