The Man Who Would Be King – The Border Patrol Signals It Is Near The Breaking Point

The problem with acting like an emperor when in fact you are simply the chief executive of a constitutional republic is that sooner or later people stop listening to you. Your actions become progressively more and more outrageous and even the most law-abiding eventually decide to simply say “no” in response to your commands. All despots confront this reality. Biden is confronting it right now. Biden wants the Border Patrol to go head to head with the Texas National Guard, push them aside, and resume the mass movement of illegal immigrants into the country. The Border Patrol has other ideas. Their union released a lengthy statement this week making clear where their sympathies lie. The President of their union just called publicly for the impeachment of DHS Secretary Mayorkas. “Rank-and-file Border Patrol agents appreciate and respect what TX has been doing to defend their state in the midst of this catastrophe that the Biden Admin has unleashed on America,” the NBPC said in its statement. “We want to be perfectly clear, there is no fight between rank-and-file BP agents and the TX National Guard, Gov. Abbott, or TX Department of Public Safety.” “Rank-and-file BP agents are not going to start arresting TX NG members for following their LAWFUL orders. That’s fake news,” the union stated. “If TX NG members have LAWFUL orders, then they have to carry out those orders. TX NG members realize that rank-and-file BP agents have their orders as well.” The NBPC also indicated that its agents might consider ignoring orders that could be considered unlawful or from a less-than-reputable source. “Lawful orders, no matter how unpopular or distasteful among rank-and-file agents, must be followed,” the union stated. “Unlawful orders, as determined by competent legal counsel and not what some outhouse lawyer behind a keyboard says, will not be followed.” Epoch Times I think the term “outhouse” lawyer suggests pretty strongly how the Border Patrol feels about the edicts coming out of the White House these days. You hear a lot about Biden being “weak-kneed” and lacking a spine. This narrative says a gutless and incompetent administration is failing to do its job. I wish that were true. In the context of our current national nightmare, we all probably wish that we were just dealing with folks doing a very bad job. That is not what is happening at all. The Biden administration is doing exactly what it intends. Its policy is that we should have open borders. It wants unrestricted migration. It does not believe we have the right to keep anyone out. We are after all living in an ‘oppressive colonial-settler, patriarchal, racist nation built on the subjugation and domination’ of the other nations of the planet. It is long past time for us to pay the price for the injustices we have committed. Stop whining. Katie Tobin, the senior director for transborder issues at the National Security Council, who just stepped down, set the agenda for this administration clearly during her three years on the job. She has spent her life working with the United Nations and non-profit organizations. In all of those jobs, she pushed the idea that the developed world had to open its borders and accept what amounts to unrestricted migration. She believes in open borders, and she was put in the White House to make that the de facto policy of the United States. That doesn’t mean the men and women of the Border Patrol have to buy into her madness, and they don’t. The devastating impact Biden’s policies have had on the Border Patrol can be seen clearly in retention and recruitment numbers. Almost ten thousand Border Patrol agents are currently approaching retirement. For most of them, they will have reached their mandatory retirement age and cannot remain on duty. Many others are not waiting for retirement. A recent DHS survey found one in four Border Patrol agents intended to quit within the next year. That makes recruiting a whole lot of new Border Patrol agents critical. Therein lies the problem. Trying to get people to sign up for an organization Biden has turned into the ‘Welcome Wagon’ is not easy. The Border Patrol is experiencing continuing recruitment shortfalls, and there is no end in sight. The reasons are not hard to understand and were documented extensively in a recent DHS Inspector General report. “CBP’s and ICE’s current method of managing law enforcement staffing is unsustainable.” “Based on interviews and survey responses from 9,311 law enforcement personnel, details, and overtime have negatively impacted the health and morale of law enforcement personnel, who feel overworked and unable to perform their primary law enforcement duties.” “During OIG site visits at six ports of entry, many CBP officers and supervisors expressed the opinion that maintaining the flow of traffic and minimizing wait times at ports of entry were prioritized by CBP leadership over security. CBP personnel at two different Border Patrol Stations shared with us that they felt pressured to process and release migrants as quickly as possible to move them out of their facilities.” Just The News The men and women of the Border Patrol are overworked and forced to ignore law enforcement considerations in the interest of processing illegals and moving them along. They have had enough, and they are saying so loudly and clearly. The Man Who Would Be King will not listen, but they have had enough. AND Magazine is a reader-supported publication. Consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. © 2024 AND Magazine P.O. Box, Forest City, PA

God Bless Texas

With increasing frequency over the course of the Biden administration, we have heard warnings of an impending constitutional crisis. We need sound the warnings no more. The crisis is here. The immediate cause is the question of access to the Texas-Mexican border. Texas, fed up with federal “law enforcement” acting to facilitate illegal entry into the United States has asserted its control, strung razor wire, and told the feds to back off. The Biden administration has gone running to the Supreme Court, which has waded in and in a preliminary ruling advised that Texas cannot prevent the federal government from carrying out its constitutional responsibility for controlling the country’s borders. AND Magazine is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Upgrade to paid Texas has responded by saying it fully intends to ignore the Supreme Court ruling and hold its course. The stage is now set for a direct confrontation between Washington and Austin. Multiple other states have already voiced their support for Texas in its confrontation with Washington. Texas is right. The justices on the Supreme Court are wrong. They missed the point. We don’t live in a monarchy. The federal government does not rule by divine right. It does not have unlimited power. The federal government has only those powers given to it by the Constitution. Perhaps more importantly it can only use those powers for the purposes identified by the Constitution. The President is the Commander in Chief of the armed forces, but he can only use that authority on behalf of the people of the United States and to defend them from their enemies. This President has decided to act in a blatantly unconstitutional fashion. He has ordered federal agencies to act in concert with our enemies and in a fashion calculated to harm American citizens. Under Joe Biden, the federal government is not simply failing to secure the border. It is actively working to break federal law and to aid and abet a foreign invasion of this nation. Illegals entering this country do not arrive here completely under their own power. They are moved here across Central America via a series of camps connected in many cases by charter bus lines. These camps are operated by the United Nations but paid for largely by American taxpayers. IOM, the United Nations agency that is at the heart of this “conveyor belt” is effectively an arm of our State Department, and its chief Amy Pope was put in place by our government. Amy thinks “migration” is a force for positive change. She is all about encouraging and expanding it. She wants to do everything in her power to bring as many people as possible here, and she does not care what our laws say. Once illegals arrive at the border they are not turned away. They are met by Border Patrol which has been directed to act as the equivalent of Welcome Wagon. Illegals actively seek out Border Patrol and turn themselves in. They know they will be processed and released expeditiously. Once processed and released illegals are then not only free to move into the interior of the country they are assisted in doing so by federal authorities. They are told to appear for hearings, which are set for as much as a decade in the future. They do not appear. No one looks for them. The entire exercise is a charade. Despite security measures in place to prevent terrorist attacks on commercial aircraft illegals are allowed to travel by air without any form of identification other than the documents showing they were arrested for breaking our laws and crossing the border illegally. They are even allowed to refuse to be photographed by security if they so desire. The illegals get backpacks, snacks, and cell phones. If processing through security takes too long, special lines are opened up just for illegals. You, my fellow American citizen, do not get any such consideration. When moving illegals into the interior of the country via normal commercial flights proves impractical the federal government acts more directly. It contracts for flights dedicated exclusively to the movement of illegals around the country. You pay for that too, According to the immigration watchdog group Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), DHS was estimated to be providing “$363.8 million of taxpayer dollars” in Fiscal Year 2023 to NGOs and nonprofits to handle migrant arrivals. FAIR also noted that “it’s unclear how the money is actually spent by the NGOs and local governments.” The President takes this oath upon assuming office. "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." None of the actions listed above are in accordance with this oath. Every single one of them is contrary to the Constitution. This President, acting as an absolute despot, is actively using the powers of the federal government against the American people to endanger our national security. The Supreme Court should have recognized that. It should have had the moral courage and integrity to say directly that a President cannot order actions specifically designed to harm the United States of America. It did not. Texas has. Texas has opted to defy blatantly unconstitutional orders by the supposed Commander in Chief. God Bless Texas. © 2024 AND Magazine P.O. Box, Forest City, PA