I recently traveled to give a speech. I stayed in a hotel where a group of U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents were also staying. I spoke to several, mostly men, but a couple were female. The average person I spoke to had been with the agency for over seven years.

Many people told me, all off the record, that before the Biden administration, they thoroughly enjoyed their job. Many were retired military members and felt that protecting the border allowed them to continue their service to the country. But now, several said they were “counting down the days until retirement.”

They were livid at being converted, as more than one put it, into “Uber drivers” for illegal aliens. One said, “If the average American had any idea what’s going on, if they knew who we’ve knowingly allowed into the country, if they knew the kinds of things some of these guys are bringing into the country — and I don’t just mean fentanyl and other drugs — they’d burn down the White House.” One showed me a cellphone video he had “secretly” taken depicting “migrants” coming across the border while flashing middle fingers at the agents.

One agent said, “We give them bank cards, work permits and let them stay in hotels or in schools. And right around the corner there are homeless Americans who politicians could not care less about.”

They praised the border state governors for putting the illegal aliens on busses and sending them to Chicago, New York and, as one said, “My favorite, Martha’s Vineyard.” Democrat politicians, one laughingly said, “talk the talk about sanctuary cities, but don’t walk the walk. And can you believe some Illinois politician said rich people should put them up in their homes? You first, dude!”

“Former President Trump,” I said, “brags that under his administration we had the most secure southern border in history. Is that true?”

One responded, “I don’t know about ever, but I can say in all my years here — and it’s over 10 — it was, by far, the most secure. Trump let us do our job.”

What they think about Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is unprintable. As for the prospect of impeaching Mayorkas, they were unimpressed. “Mayorkas isn’t the problem,” several said. “He’s just following the marching orders given by Biden. They’ll just replace him with someone just as bad or worse.”

Why don’t they resign? They said, “If we’re not there, it will get worse. This is not an easy job. It takes training and experience. If you think it’s bad now, what do you think would happen if we walked off the job? I care too much about the country to let that happen.”

What, I asked, about the estimated 8 million or so illegal aliens who entered the country since Joe Biden took over? Assuming Donald Trump comes back into office, will they get deported? “No,” one said, “I don’t believe there is the political will for that to happen. I’ll believe it when I see it.”

As for the terrorists we have allowed to come in, they all thought it is “just a matter of time before we have another 9/11” or “several,” one added. “There’s a lot of stuff going on the administration does not want you to know about. There would be panic in the streets. You don’t want to know what I know. I mean, did you hear about the IEDs (improvised explosive devices) that Mexico seized at the border?”

According to Fox Business, “IEDs were found by Mexican authorities … a Tucson supervisory border patrol agent arrested an armed person on the U.S. side who had a loaded AK-47 rifle, two loaded AK magazines, loose rounds and a handgun.”

I asked about Biden’s threat to use the Border Patrol to cut the razor wire put up in Eagle Pass, Texas, by the Texas National Guard. Gov. Greg Abbott wants the CBP to stop using a park there as a gathering ground for illegal entrants. Could there be an armed clash between the Texas National Guard and the Border Patrol?

“Absolutely not,” they all said. “What Biden is doing to this country has got to stop. We’re both on the same team — team America.”

COPYRIGHT 2024 LAURENCE A. ELDER