Editor Note: We believe some of the most important stories in America are the ones that rarely make the headlines.
We are proud to announce the launch of Untold Stories, a new video series produced in partnership with the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) and sponsored by the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Foundation. Over the coming months, this two-dozen-episode series will take viewers inside federal law enforcement agencies across the nation, highlighting the men and women who serve, the missions they carry out, and the partnerships that help keep our communities and country safe.
Through exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes access, and firsthand accounts, Untold Stories will showcase success stories, innovative initiatives, and unique perspectives on national security and public safety.
Join us for the latest episode here, as Untold Stories takes you inside the agencies, missions, and people working every day to protect our nation. This episode gives you a preview of what is to come in this series.
There are few people in America more qualified exactly what's happening at our nation's border than Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Rodney S. Scott. More importantly, he's the world's leading expert on what's not happening.
Scott first joined the U.S. Border Patrol in 1992 as a frontline agent in San Diego and spent the next three decades working his way through nearly every level of the agency. By the time he became Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol in 2020, he had seen border security from both sides of the equation, from chasing smugglers in the field to helping shape policy at the highest levels of CBP.
When the Biden administration came to power, Scott was forced to sit and watch as three decades of hard work was undone by self-righteous ideologues all too happy to sell out our personal safety and national security because the idea of borders offends them.
Massive stretches of border went undermanned. Agents were pulled off the line at critical moments. The entire concepts of national security and of policing was being demonized, with agents enduring no end of hatred from the blue-haired activist types.
And of course, the cartels were watching all of it with smiles on their faces.
“That reality demoralized our personnel,” Scott recalled. “It’s not only just knowing what was getting away, but literally watching it get away.”
Acknowledging that the system was rotten, Scott retired from CBP in 2021. Now, with sanity finally re-entering the immigration debate, he’s back and he’s coming out swinging.
This time, he says agents have been given the backing and resources to do the job they were hired to do.
Scott says that during the previous administration, CBP could encounter more illegal crossers in an hour and a half than agents are now seeing during an entire 24-hour period.
“We’re currently experiencing the most secure border this nation has ever, ever seen,” Scott said.
The change goes beyond statistics.
Scott says agents who once found themselves overwhelmed with processing duties are back on the border. Recruiting has surged, every seat at the Border Patrol Academy is filled, and CBP is expanding training capacity without lowering its standards.
The mission is bigger than immigration alone.
Scott warns that when Border Patrol agents are overwhelmed, cartels gain opportunities to move drugs, criminals and other threats across the border behind the crowds. Those threats do not remain in Texas, Arizona or California. They spread into communities across the country, making border security a national public-safety issue.
“If we can’t control who and what enters our country, we have no security,” Scott said.
For Scott, returning to CBP is more than another chapter in a long career.
“My faith in God, my faith in Jesus Christ, is really what drives me now,” he said. “I feel like this is my mission.”
In FLEOA’s latest Untold Stories, Scott explains what he witnessed firsthand, what changed, and why he believes America’s border agents finally have the opportunity to take back control.
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