Live from Music Row Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed special guest Brandon Judd, President of the National Border Patrol Council to the newsmakers line to discuss the current surge of Haitians under the Del Rio International Bridge and how it is up to the people educate themselves to make a change to the Biden administration’s border policies.
Leahy: We are joined on our newsmaker line right now by Brandon Judd, the President of the National Border Patrol Council. Brandon, apparently there are reports that there are more than 10,000 Haitians are under the Del Rio International Bridge on the southwestern border of Texas with Mexico. How do they get there and what’s happening with them?
Judd: I spent all day yesterday, and I’ll spend all day today down under the bridge. And what we saw is at the height, it was 14,870, some odd people that we had under the bridge. Now, these people were not in custody.
And as long as they didn’t try to further their entrance into the United States, they were able to stay under the bridge until we can take them into custody, transport them, process them, and then determine what’s going to happen with them from there.
The idea and these stories that are coming out by The Washington Post, by The New York Times, by all of these outlets are saying these people are going to be deported. That’s just not true.
Only a quarter of these individuals are going to be amenable to Title 42 and are going to be expelled because the vast majority of them are family units. And we know the Biden administration doesn’t expel family units from the United States.
The vast majority of these individuals crossed our borders illegally, they violated our laws, and they’re ultimately going to be rewarded for violating our laws.
And as long as we do that, we create this magnet that draws all of these people to come here to the United States illegally. And it’s completely and totally surreal. It’s a situation that we’ve never seen before.
And if you are able to get down there personally, what you’re going to see is that it seriously appears to be like a war zone. It’s crazy what is taking place right now.
Leahy: How does it happen? I mean, how do 14,000 Haitians get from Haiti to a bridge under the bridge of the Del Rio International Bridge on the southwestern border of Texas and Mexico? How does that happen?
Judd: Oh, they walk for the most part.
Leahy: They don’t walk from Haiti. That’s an island.
Judd: The cartels facilitate it. What’s very interesting about this is the majority of them are not coming from Haiti. The majority of them are coming from Chile or Brazil. Back in 2010, during all of the disasters that were taking place in Haiti, a lot of these people left and went to South America for economic reprieve.
And Brazil and Chile excepted these people in. Now that the pandemic has hit those two countries hard, and there’s been a huge economic downturn, these people are leaving those two countries and they’re coming to the United States.
They didn’t have to take boats up to where we’re at. They were able to come straight up through South America and Central America, up to the United States and the cartels, they facilitated this.
The cartels were able to get them up. And this is what’s amazing about what’s taken place is the cartels understand that all they have to do is cross really large groups. We’ve never seen anything like this before, but they know that all they have to do is cross really large groups then the border patrol will have to deploy the resources to that area.
And when we deploy our resources to that area, we create all of these artificial gaps in our coverage along the border. And when we do that, they’re able to cross their higher-value products such as criminal aliens and drugs into the United States.
It’s completely and totally crazy that we continue to operate the way that we do because we’ve conceded control of law enforcement operations to criminal cartels.
Leahy: Is this intentional on the part of the Biden maladministration?
Judd: That would be speculation on my part. If you were to ask me, I don’t have evidence of it, but, yeah, I believe it is. I believe it is. But, again, that speculations. That’s just my opinion. I don’t have any evidence of it. But I do believe it is.
Leahy: I don’t have evidence, but I have logic. I can’t see any other way this would happen unless this were intentional on part of a Biden maladministration.
Judd: When you look at the Biden administration bringing back the catch and release magnet, that then-President Trump was able to get rid of, we dropped to a 45 year low in illegal immigration.
The Biden administration almost from day one, when they came into office, reintroduced that magnet. And that’s why we have 200,000 apprehensions two months running. We’re expecting to see those apprehensions to be over 200,000 again in the month of September.
So, yeah, it’s crazy what’s going on. And until the people recognize that the policies of this administration that it’s not just border security.
It’s everything. Look at the economy right now. Look at the jobs market. Look at Afghanistan. Everything that’s happening in this country, these policies are horrible. And until the country stands up and recognizes this, he’s not going to change.
He’s just not going to make any changes as it pertains to the border. He’s not going to make any changes as it pertains to this very hard leftist movement and the defund, the police, and everything that comes with the negatives of a very liberal government.
Leahy: What does this do to the morale of the National Border Patrol agents out there?
Judd: All of the agents were all completely defeated. When we put on that uniform, we want to go out and we want to do the best job that we can for the American public. Our desire is to protect the American public.
Our desire is to be able to enforce the laws properly so that the public is safe. And when we see what’s going on, we basically become caretakers. We become babysitters if you will. And that’s not what we signed up to do.
We signed up to be able to go after the criminal organizations, the criminality that exists on the border. We’re looking at it. We know that all we’re doing is reporting to work to be babysitters caretakers, and prison guards, if you will. And that’s not what we’re supposed to be. Now we’re all defeated.
Leahy: Well, when you say defeated. Is it temporary? Is it permanent? Is there hope? What do the Border Patrol agents want to have happen?
Judd: There’s always hope. If we can get back to the mission that we originally signed up to do, that morale is going to jump right back up. But until that time when we say there’s always hope, there’s hope that the public is going to put enough pressure on this administration to do the right thing.
If that doesn’t happen, the morale is going to stay in the tanks. Now, the one thing, even with the moral being, what it is, I’m so proud of the agents that we have. I’m so proud of everybody that goes out there day in and day out.
We’re still going to do the job. We’re going to go out there and we’re going to do the best that we possibly can. We just don’t feel good about it right now.
Leahy: Well, that makes perfect sense. I mean, you’ve got three and a half more years of the Biden maladministration. Is there anything or anyone in the Biden maladministration, my words, not yours, that you trust? Or that wants to actually implement the law?
Judd: (Sighs) That I know of? No. If you look at DHS, the Department of Homeland Security, anytime that you change administrations, they’re able to come in and they’re able to appoint political appointees in very high-level positions.
The leader of the Department of Homeland Security is a political appointee. The leader of Customs and Border Protection is a political appointee. And the leader of the Border Patrol is not a political appointee.
The Border Patrol falls under CBP, Customs, and Border Protection. Customs and Border Protections fall under DHS. And even though the leader of the Border Patrol isn’t a political appointee, that person must do what those political appointees want them to do.
Otherwise, they can be removed from that position. They can’t be fired, but they can be removed from that position and just reassigned somewhere else. The political appointees will do exactly what the administration tells them to do.
If the Biden administration knows that the public is upset with what is going on, then you can see a change in the stances in the operations and the leaders of the agencies. They will fall in line with that.
There has to be enough public outrage. And if there is, then we will see changes. But anytime that you have The Washington Post, The New York Times sugar coating and telling half-truths, then you’re just not going to get the outrage that we need for the public to let him know that they want change.
And that’s why we have to look at both sides. You have to not just listen to those left-leaning outlets. You have to seek out the truth when you find the truth. If the outrage exists, then a change can happen.
Listen to the full first hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 am to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Live from Music Row Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio to discuss the Battered Republican Syndrome and the constant false information given out by the Biden administration.
Leahy: In our previous segment, you found my concept that part of the problem with the operation of the Senate dealing with Joe Biden is that a number of senators there suffered from the Battered Republican Syndrome. You found that both amusing and perhaps a little bit accurate.
Carmichael: Not just a little accurate, I think it’s a lot accurate. My mother, who’s a very, very accomplished woman, but she used to say, even if you can’t succeed, you have to try. You just must try.
Leahy: I think I would like to meet your mother.
Carmichael: She’s 93 now.
Leahy: I’ll meet her someday.
Carmichael: It would be fairly soon. (Leahy laughs) She used to say, we have to try. And I think that that is what the Republicans who say, I don’t care whether or not we can get a deal or not.
I’ve got to try. I just have to. It’s kind of like, well, I don’t care if Lucy moves the football. I’m trying Charlie Brown, I have to try to kick it.
Leahy: Even though Charlie Brown knows with 100 percent certainty Lucy is going to move that football. (Laughs)
Carmichael: But he still has to try. He still has to try. There are very few Democrats, very few Democrats who will try to negotiate with a Republican president. Very few.
Leahy: In good faith.
Carmichael: In good faith.
Leahy: That’s the key.
Carmichael: Did any Democrats try to negotiate with Trump?
Leahy: I don’t think so.
Carmichael: I don’t think so. But I mean, on anything. And Pelosi made it clear once she had control of the House that nothing was going to happen simply because Trump was president.
So then I now have the Battered Republican Syndrome, I think, is right on target, because these are people that no matter if they succeed or fail, they feel like they have to try. And so now they get up there and Lucy moves the football on them.
Joe Biden says, thanks for negotiating, we have a deal. And by the way, in order for you, in order for me to sign your deal, you’re going to have to agree to all the other things that during your negotiations, you said no to.
Leahy: Let me just say for a moment, the phrase Battered Republican Syndrome.
Carmichael: Yes.
Leahy: I just did a search on it. As far as I can tell, a September of 2002 by Ann Coulter in an article titled Battered Republican Syndrome. Not unique to me, perhaps somewhere in the distant past.
Carmichael: And the same thing was true when Obama was president as he would move the football And like Biden, Obama would make stuff up. Here’s the difference. Democrats say, well, Trump made stuff up. And my response to that is Trump might have made stuff up on things that didn’t matter. And I’ll accept that.
Leahy: He’s a classic salesman who exaggerated to tell a story.
Carmichael: I’ll accept that. But on his key campaign promises, the things that he campaigned on, he either did, he either accomplished or tried as hard as he could as president to accomplish those things.
Had it not been for John McCain breaking his own word with his own voters when he ran for reelection and promised his most important campaign promise when he ran for his reelection. I will vote to repeal Obamacare. That was the most important promise he made.
Leahy: A solemn promise he made to the voters.
Carmichael: It was the most important. And then when it came to the vote, he broke his word. And so what I’m saying is that Democrats come up with their so-called 10,000 lies and, of course, 9,000 of those are their lies.
But even the ones that they claim don’t matter. Obama, on the other hand, in order to pass Obamacare made a bunch of statements that were flagrantly false, and he knew them to be false.
And history now shows them to also be false. Biden does exactly the same thing, except he does it almost all the time. And so he won’t accomplish anything legislatively. But what they are doing administratively, Michael is the part that when I said earlier, as a country.
We’re not going to be able to sustain ourselves in any form that we’re familiar with as long as we’re going in the direction that we’re going in now even if legislation doesn’t pass. Biden through, the fact that he controls the attorney’s general.
The fact that he controls all of the agencies. And he controls the military and all of this woke teaching to his whole of government. He says, we’re going to use the whole of government to accomplish all these things.
A lot of really, really terrible things are happening to our society, and people who are in positions that might be able to at least slow it down are really not in positions to slow it down.
If you are a bureaucrat in Washington and you oppose the Biden agenda, you will be fired. Regardless of civil service, you will be fired and you will be canceled. And the media will then be on the side of firing of the civil servant because they have an agenda to advance.
And they’re going to advance it as much as they can. Now, can the courts slow that down? Yes. But as you saw with the cake baker, that’s why I use him as an example. On the very day that the Supreme Court ruled in the cake baker’s favor, a transgender couple went in and he’s back in court again.
That didn’t happen by coincidence. That is a plan that anybody who opposes the far-left agenda we’re going to do everything we can to make your life miserable.
Leahy: Exactly. You know, when you see something like that Crom, it strikes me that there has been a fundamental change in the American character among a portion of our populace.
Carmichael: On Monday, let’s pick up on this because I don’t think we have enough time today. But what I want to pick up on is what we talked about earlier and that is culture. I asked my friends who are for much larger amounts of immigration from the southern border.
I asked them, look, I am for legal immigration as long as it’s limited to some reasonable amount because I want people who immigrated to this country to assimilate and be part of our culture, not bring their culture and change our culture.
And I would say to them, I said, every single country south of our border purports to be a democracy. Every single one. Which one do you want us to become more like? And they’re stumped.
There is no answer. They don’t say I want to be like Mexico. Mexico has gun laws where nobody can own a gun, but their murder rate is five times more than in the U.S. What I’m saying is that as more and more people from South of our border come to our country, they’re bringing that culture here.
Leahy: I will give you an answer to your question that’s different than the usual answer, but has all sorts of problems. The answer that that one might give to that would be Costa Rica. What’s the problem with that? They have no military.
Carmichael: Is Costa Rica an island?
Leahy: No. It’s a little tiny country. It’s a tiny country in Central America. It has a tradition of democracy and freedom and good schooling, but it doesn’t have any military.
Carmichael: Here’s an assignment for us. Let’s find out what Costa Rica’s immigration policy is. Let’s find out what it is because I’ve heard wonderful things. I’ve never been to Costa Rica, but I’ve heard wonderful things about it. You’re describing a country that seems to be very orderly.
Leahy: So I have a friend, actually, who owns a place on the West Coast of Costa Rica. Well, perhaps what we ought to do, Crom, is take a road trip to Costa Rica and do a show from there. What do you think?
Carmichael: (Laughs) That sounds good.
Leahy: By the way, out there in our listening audience, I’m sure that there is some sponsor that would love to hear what’s going on in Costa Rica. (Laughs)
Carmichael: There might be somebody who actually knows the answer to the question.
Leahy: I bet someone in our listening audience goes to Costa Rica.
Carmichael: And the question is, what is Costa Rica’s immigration policy.
Listen to the full third hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Live from Music Row Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed special guest Brandon Judd, President of the National Border Patrol Council to the newsmakers line to discuss the man-made crisis at America’s Southern border.
Leahy: We are delighted to have on our newsmaker line, Brandon Judd, the President of the National Border Patrol Council which represents all of the folks that are there and our Border Patrol agents on the border. Welcome, Brandon. Thanks for joining us.
Judd: Always good to be with you. Thank you.
Leahy: Well, I know you’re just waiting breathlessly for Vice President Kamala Harris to go down to the border and take a look at this. It’s been how many days? It’s been 80 days now since she’s been charged with doing this by the President and have you seen her yet?
Judd: I’m holding my breath, and I think I’m going to die first. (Leahy laughs)
Leahy: How do your members look at this kind of silliness from the Biden Harris administration? This kind of disdain for the job you do. How do you do your job every day in that environment?
Judd: It becomes very difficult. every time we put on a uniform and we go out and we try to do our job we know that we just don’t have an administration behind us that cares about the American public and that cares that we’re able to secure the border.
Vice President Harris, the other day, said that she’s an advocate for illegal aliens. She’s advocating for lawlessness. How can you put on a uniform and go out to try to do the job when you know that the administration is actively trying to support those people that you’re trying to keep out of the country to protect the American citizen?
Leahy: That’s a very interesting point. It’s almost like Alison in Wonderland kind of stuff, right? This is like the counter to logic, counter to what they’re supposed to be doing. To me, I don’t know.
I hear the Vice President say something like that and I think is this person trying to subvert the immigration laws of the United States?
Judd: It certainly looks that way when you consider that in the first five months of this administration, nearly 500,000 illegal immigrants have been allowed to get into the United States.
It’s crazy when you consider that we’ve had nearly 200,000 people that have been able to cross the border illegally and evade apprehension. Those are what we call got aways. Nearly 200,000 people have been able to get away.
And then on top of that, nearly 300,000 people have been released under the catch and release program. That’s 500,000 people in five months that have been added to the 11,000,000 illegal alien population that’s already here in the United States. That’s crazy! In five months, think about what’s going to happen over four years.
Leahy: I’m going to tell you how I see this, and I’d just like to get your reaction to it. We have immigration laws on the books, and the President and the Vice President are charged with enforcing those immigration laws.
To me, it looks like they are actually trying to subvert those laws. When a President and Vice President look to subvert those laws, it seems to me that that is a high crime and misdemeanor, and it’s an impeachable offense. That’s what it looks like to me.
Judd: As a federal employee, I can’t comment on that. I just can’t go there. But what I can tell you is that the immigration laws just are not being enforced the way Congress intended them to be enforced.
And when you consider that both Vice President Harris and President Biden, were both in Congress and they both helped pass the laws that we’re currently supposed to enforce it’s insane to think that they’re using what’s called prosecutorial discretion to create the current disaster that we have on the border.
When you consider that they’ve said that ICE can only arrest and deport people that have committed serious felonies, they’ve basically made every single city in the United States a sanctuary city.
If a local police department pulls somebody over for drunk driving and they’re in the United States illegally, and they call ICE, well, drunk driving isn’t one of those crimes that ICE can then go take them into custody, then they’re going to then have to release them.
That’s an illegal alien that we knew was in the country that ICE can’t go pick up. In essence, we’ve created sanctuary cities throughout the entire United States through what’s called prosecutorial discretion.
Leahy: So where does our country go on these issues?
Judd: I mean, we have to look at and we have to say, let’s go to the polls. We have to. If we don’t go to the polls, then we’re going to continue to see what’s currently happening. We have to be willing to look at and elect those people that care more about the citizens of the United States than they do about the citizens outside of the United States.
We elect people to look out for our interests, not the interests of people that are not here in this country or aren’t citizens of this country.
Leahy: Governor Greg Abbott of Texas announced over the weekend his intent to build a wall and have the state build a wall and to arrest any illegal aliens that they find. What do you make of that?
Judd: I’m grateful that we have governors that are willing to step up. We have to look at what’s been going on when border patrol’s resources are being pulled out of the field because we’re being overwhelmed by what we call getaways, those people that cross the border and basically wave their hands in the air, say, here I am, I’m going to claim asylum.
What happens is we pull so much of our resources out of the field to process those individuals that we create these artificial gaps that criminal cartels can then cross their higher-value products.
Whether that’s drugs, whether that’s criminal aliens, whether that’s aliens from special interest countries, it creates these gaps. Governor Abbott has sent DPS down to the border to help fill those gaps, and they’ve done a phenomenal job.
So he’s just looking at more solutions to try to get this crisis under control there in Texas. I wish other governors would step up to the plate and do the same thing that he’s doing.
Leahy: You anticipated my next question when you say, other governors. There are four states that border the Mexican border, going East to West. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.
Greg Abbott is a Republican. I think the New Mexico governor is a Democrat. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, Republican. California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. Compare and contrast, those four governors and their policies towards the border.
Judd: So the two Arizona governors, Governor Ducey in Arizona, that’s my home state. And then, of course, Governor Abbott in Texas, they’ve both been willing to acknowledge that this is, in fact, a crisis.
They’ve both been out there saying this is a complete and total disaster. This is a man-made disaster. This could have been controlled, but this administration came in and reversed several policies that were working programs that got the border under control.
And they’ve done more obviously, than the Democrats governors in New Mexico and California. Governor Abbott has done more than Ducey. But Ducey has the resources that he has. He’s called up the Arizona National Guard.
He sent them to the border. So they are doing something. This is a federal government problem. And they just don’t have the necessary resources. The federal government, they do have the resources. They’re just not doing anything.
Leahy: And again, how many members are in the National Border Patrol Council?
Judd: 12,500 Border Patrol agents are members of the National Border Patrol Council.
Leahy: My cousin worked I think it was in Nogales, Arizona as a Border Patrol agent. And he’s retired now. I came from way upstate New York, and a lot of our folks worked as Border Patrol agents on the New York-Quebec border.
That’s kind of where they got started. And that was his background. And I’m telling you, he felt that this was a very, very difficult job. He retired about five years ago. So has a job gotten better or worse in the past five years or particularly the past five months? Let’s go with that.
Judd: It’s more difficult when you have a President that supports you. Under the Trump administration, the job was more difficult, but it was more fulfilling because we knew that we were doing a good job.
Under this administration, this job is easy because they don’t let her do anything. But it’s not fulfilling. We want to protect the American public and this administration is not letting us do it.
Listen to the full second hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 am to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Brandon Judd” by Fox News.
Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Republican Mayor-elect Javier Villalobos of McAllen, Texas to the newsmakers line to discuss his background, border policy, and taking on federal immigration burdens in his community.
Leahy: We are delighted to welcome to our newsmaker line, the Mayor-elect of McAllen, Texas, Javier Villalobos. Welcome, Mr. Villalobos.
Villalobos: Hi. Good morning. And thank you very much for the invite.
Leahy: It has been a busy week for you, hasn’t it?
Villalobos: You know what? It’s been incredibly hectic, but in a wonderful way, though.
Leahy: So you were elected mayor of McAllen, Texas. It’s a very growing border city in the southeastern corner of Texas. Right across the border is Reynosa, Mexico. I’ve been to McCallen. It’s a great place. What’s the population of McCallen?
Villalobos: The population is about 150,000 right now.
Leahy: That’s a pretty big city.
Villalobos: It is considering, of course, when you take everything into consideration, the rest of the states, of course, everything is pretty much together have a population of close to about a million.
Leahy: What struck me about McCallen when I was there, which was about 10 years ago, a lot of new construction, a lot of sort of export-import business. And people there really seem to be growing businesses.
It’s still a thriving community, except for the past six or seven months have been a problem, haven’t they?
Villalobos: Well, you know what? It has been economically. You really should come to visit it again. After 10 years, we wouldn’t even recognize it. But, yes, of course, we’ve had some different issues. I think I know exactly what you’re talking about.
Six months ago, it was a little bit better. We are about 13 miles away from the border. And, of course, we’re having a few issues right now at any given time. McCallen has two international bridges.
Hidalgo-Reynosa and Anzalduas and at any given point we have hundreds, and I’m talking about hundreds of immigrants, which are transported, really to McAllen. Fortunately, we always say, look, immigration is not a municipal issue.
It’s a federal issue. But we’re kind of tied up. Border Patrol comes and they bring usually hundreds a day. We help process, even though we shouldn’t have to, but we do it for purposes of public safety.
Leahy: Yes, for safety.
Villalobos: To make sure the immigrants are ok. Yes, definitely. Because the Border Patrol comes, drops them off near the bus station. Unless we do something, we don’t know what’s going to happen or where they can be.
I’m not talking to whether pro or against the immigrants. However, we make sure that we take care of business, even though it’s not our responsibility. We keep on talking about it and asking the federal government, the president, Congress, Senate, to take care of the business.
It’s not our responsibility. Our taxpayers should not be burdening or have any responsibility for the issue. And it does. After a while, it becomes very burdensome.
Leahy: You said something there that kind of surprised me. Let me see if I understand this correctly. You said that the Border Patrol takes, I guess, is illegal aliens or who people have crossed the border illegally in buses and they take them in downtown McAllen and then just let him go. Did I get that right?
Villalobos: Fortunately, we have an organization that assists. Not a municipal organization. It’s a nonprofit that will assist and at least logistically keep assisting them until they are prepared to go to wherever they’re going to be going. And logistically, we assist the city assistant in transporting them to the bus station, to the airport, wherever we can. And that’s about it.
That is about it. I think the city has been doing a great job with a nonprofit where even though it’s not our responsibility, we keep on doing whatever we can for the purposes of maintaining peace and public safety and making sure that everybody is taken care of. Especially our residents.
Leahy: What is the nonprofit down there that helps process these I guess illegal aliens dropped off at the bus station by the Border Patrol?
Villalobos: They have been helpful. It’s a Catholic charity called the Respite Center here in downtown McAllen, and they have actually been assisting quite a bit. Without them, I don’t know what the city would do.
Leahy: Has the flow of illegal immigrants dropped off in downtown McAllen by the Border Patrol increased over the past year or so?
Villalobos: Of course. I think we all know probably about six months ago or five months ago they changed the federal policy and things became very different. I would venture to say it was a lot more comfortable five or six months ago.
So it has been different. Unfortunately, this is not the first time it occurred. Several years ago, the city spent close to about a million dollars. It’s different now. We’re not spending as much.
But regardless of whether it’s a million, whether it’s $10,000 or $5,000 it is not a municipal responsibility, and we shouldn’t be burdened. That’s our position.
Leahy: Tell us a little bit about your background.
Villalobos: Oh, certainly. I’ve been here in McAllen for 26 years and I’m originally from here. Actually, not a son of immigrants, but a son of migrants. So I’ve been around. I was a Republican chairman 10 years ago, which surprises a lot of people knowing my background or where I come from.
I ran for office and became commissioner. And then, surprisingly, to a lot of people, I ran for Mayor and against all odds as some people say. Because even though it’s a non-partisan race, everybody here votes Republican, Democrat, or Independent.
Everybody knew I was a former Republican chairman, and fortunately, I was elected. It was a close one. It was a very close one, but I was elected.
Leahy: Now, what do you do for a living, Javier?
Villalobos: Mostly the main business is that I’m a lawyer.
Leahy: You’re an attorney?
Villalobos: Yes, sir. What area of law do you specialize in?
Villalobos: Pretty much a lot of governmental work representing cities, schools, housing authorities, economic development, and corporations. But I like to dabble in trial work also, some of the criminal and litigation.
Leahy: So how did you personally decide to become an attorney?
Villalobos: As I said, I’m not from there. I’m from Crystal City, a small little place about 250 miles from here. I remember coming from a barrio. And that is the truth. But I played baseball.
And I remember one of the coaches, he was a lawyer, and I always looked up to him and I thought maybe one day. Of course, I didn’t think so because we were from the barrio. But you know what it was?
I always say education is a great equalizer, and I really believe in that. And that’s what happened. That’s how we did it.
Leahy: So Crystal City is a barrio in El Paso? Where is Crystal City?
Villalobos: No, it’s about 250 miles North West of San Antonio, but it’s a small little place, a population of about 8,000 people back when I was a kid and still the same.
Leahy: So you’re a baseball guy? Did you grow up playing baseball as a kid?
Villalobos: (Laughs) And I love it. Still coaching. My kid doesn’t like to play with me anymore because he’s a senior in high school. So we started another team again with T-Ballers. So here we go again.
Leahy: I’m a big baseball fan. I love playing it. I was in high school. I was probably I was a good field no-hit guy right infielder. I hit about 240 s you can see why I didn’t make it past high school playing baseball. What position did you play?
Villalobos: I used to play second base and outfield.
Leahy: I was a second basement and a third baseman, too, so it was kind of fun. Who’s your team now?
Villalobos: Even when my kids were little. Now, if you’re talking about our local team, we’re called the Villalobos. Of course, I got The Lobos.
Leahy: There you go.
Villalobos: Once again, brand new kids because our kids grew up and they don’t want to hang out with dad anymore. So we got a new batch of kids. (Leahy laughs) Let’s see what we can do with them.
Leahy: Let’s talk a little bit about baseball for a minute in youth development. When I was a kid, many years ago, in the summer, I lived on a hill and there was a valley. I would ride my bike down the playground and people would be there.
And we would just play pick-up baseball. I did it every day. Today, it seems a lot harder for kids to play baseball.
Villalobos: It’s totally different nowadays for kids. I did exactly the same back then. You just get a bunch of kids and there’s an empty lot and here we go. Let’s play ball. It’s a little bit different nowadays.
But now the ones that are organized, there’s baseball all year round now. And if it’s organized, I mean, that’s a beautiful thing. The issue we have a lot of the times not just here, McAllen but everywhere is finding spaces for practice.
Leahy: Exactly. Hey, hold on to that thought. The Mayor-elect Javier Villalobos. I want to talk about baseball. I want to talk about immigration. And I want to talk about border policy.
Listen to the full first hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Javier Villalobos” by Javier Villalobos Campaign.
Live from Music Row Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed TN. (R) State Representative Jerry Sexton in studio to weigh in on Biden border policy and immigration failures and the Tennessee General Assembly’s role in K12 public education curriculum.
(Arizona Congressman (R) Andy Biggs clip plays)
Leahy: That’s Congressman Andy Biggs from Arizona talking about the Biden mal-administration’s failure to enforce our immigration laws. What’s happening at the border is illegal aliens are crossing in record numbers. They’re not being tested for COVID. They’re not being detained. They are being put on buses and planes and sent all around the country, including to places like Tennessee it appears.
In studio with us State Representative Jerry Sexton. Jerry, when you hear Congressman Biggs describe the reality on the border of that, you look here at Tennessee apparently, some of these illegal aliens, many of them not tested for COVID. Many of them carrying COVID are headed to Tennessee. What’s your response to that, Jerry?
Sexton: Well, it’s obvious we have certain values and certain laws and those laws are being skirted with immigration. We are a country of immigrants, and it’s called the melting pot. The problem is we’re not melting anymore. We’re trying to change the values of this country.
Leahy: Balkanizing the country.
Sexton: Yes, that’s exactly right. And when you’ve got immigrants, we could make them a way for people to come legally. But what they’re doing is they’re getting these people to beholden to them as if they’re giving them something. And unfortunately, it’s happening in Tennessee. And we’re not making our politicians pay for their votes and their policies.
It’s time that we, as Tennesseeans, decide whether we’re going to continue to put up with these types of policies, or do we know exactly what the voting record is of our state Senator, of our governor, of any politician? Do we know what their voting record is? We better stop listening to the rhetoric and see what actually they’re doing now.
Leahy: I have not seen any confirmed reports that these illegal aliens have surged across the border and have been placed in Tennessee. I have seen many confirmed reports that illegal aliens at the border are not being detained and are being sent around the country. It would stand a reason that there are 50 States and they’re probably being sent to Tennessee is one of those States.
There was an unconfirmed report down in Chattanooga. I don’t know if you saw that which said that said, apparently an organization called the Baptiste Group, there was a report, unconfirmed, was housing illegal aliens who had just crossed the border. And then there was, I think, a local Chattanooga message from their school board saying, just a reminder that by law, we are required to educate everybody that comes here.
And there’s a Supreme Court ruling on this that illegal alien children must be educated in K12 public schools. And so I don’t know. There have been no confirmed reports, but it would very much surprise me if there aren’t right now today in Tennessee, illegal aliens who have crossed the border illegally since the inauguration of Joe Biden, who are sitting here right now, many of them poised to go to public schools.
Sexton: Let me ask you something. What if every immigrant that came to America said that they had to listen to your program? And I’m in the furniture manufacturing business and these same people had to buy my product? Now, that would be a pretty good boom for us, would it not?
Leahy: Oh, yeah.
Sexton: So our education system, they get so much money per student. So what we’re doing is we’re filling up the classrooms with money because every head represents so much money for those schools. And it’s time that we tear apart these organizations that are funneling all this money and everything else. We should be teaching our people. We should be giving them an education.
Leahy: You mean on things like the Constitution of America? (Laughs)
Sexton: Oh, my gosh. Isn’t it amazing how we don’t know the Constitution and we don’t teach those things?
Leahy: Well, funny, you bring that up. Have you seen in our book Guide to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for Secondary School Students? I think maybe this is the first time I’ve shared that with you.
Sexton: I think it is.
Leahy: And I’ll just talk to you a little bit about this. In October, it will be our fifth year of doing the National Constitution Bee here in Tennessee. And it is for students grades eight through 12. They get a copy of this book. And then we do a Constitution Bee like a Spelling Bee or Geography Bee. And we end up with three winners and the first place winner gets a $10,000. educational scholarship, second place, $5,000, and third place $2,500. It’s a lot of fun.
Sexton: Wow.
Leahy: I will tell you this, though, and we make this book available as a supplementary text to K12 public schools in Tennessee. Really, only one school system in the state has even expressed any interest in it. We’ve got one school system using it as a supplementary text in one course. But most of the other K12 public schools have no interest in learning about this particular supplementary text on the Constitution. Nor do they have much interest in sending their kids to have this opportunity for educational scholarships. That’s our experience with the K12 public schools in Tennessee.
Sexton: What they are teaching them is completely different from the values of America. I was in a public school and I attend some schools occasionally and in one of the classrooms I took some pictures and I’ve tried to take videos of it, but there was on the board they were teaching about Christmas in Mexico, not Christmas in America.
Leahy: Christmas in Mexico.
Sexton: Christmas in Mexico.
Leahy: Because that’s what young kids in Tennessee need to learn about. Christmas in Mexico.
Sexton: I tell organizations all the time when they talk about these diversity and inclusion programs. First of all, say it should be done away with because I say it’s not real. If I want to bring my Bible and I want to come into your organization, am I welcome? Can I have Bible study? Can I have Sunday school? No, just on the face itself it’s not real. The first book that was approved by Congress, and I’m sorry, they don’t have the year 17 something but it was the Aitken Bible. It was the first Bible printed in America and approved by Congress.
Leahy: I think that was actually like 1784 during the Confederation Congress.
Sexton: I think so. Yes. And we are when I say we, the American Bible Society, is going to put Bibles in every school to be taught. From this historical standpoint, it has all of the documents. I’ve seen the Bible’s already being printed. And we’re excited that we can put those in schools because we do have a policy, a law, state law that says that you can have these.
But as you said, Michael, people are afraid. They’re afraid to stand up for what is our right in America. And until we start standing for those rights that we have and those values like the Second Amendment, like freedom of speech, like the right to keep and bare arms, until we start standing up for those, we’re going to continue to lose them. I, for one, will not bow to the left and their tactics.
Leahy: Yeah, that’s, I think, very important. But I want to follow up with this. Isn’t it the state legislature that plays a critical role in establishing the curriculum?
Sexton: Of course it is.
Leahy: That is taught in K12 public schools?
Sexton: Of course it is. Now let me give a high five to some of my colleagues in the Education Department. I know several of them that are fighting extremely hard to try to get these policies in our schools. Believe me, you’ve got a lot of Tennessee legislators that believe in the values that made this country great. They’re wanting to get those things taught in our school rooms. They’re fighting for it all the time.
We have to push back against these big unions. And I don’t want my Republican friends that don’t understand that every time we give in to these public schools and this leftist idea that they’re taking that money and trying to defeat Republicans and conservative values. Why do we continue to do that? I tell my friends all the time in the legislature that I am a rural representative and the school systems in my area are the largest employers.
And we cannot be afraid of them. We have to embrace them. I support our teachers. They have to teach what they’re mandated. But our parents also want to have a diversity of education. I support that. And I get elected every time because I support our parents, our teachers and the public school system is failing us as it is.
Listen to the full first hour here:
– – –
Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
