Episode 180: “America's Open Borders" with Ken Cuccinelli and Russ Vought

“No borders. No walls. No USA at all.”      Chant by Antifa rioters marching in the streets of Denver.   With Ukraine and Russia dominating the headlines, America seems to have lost focus on the border - and the war - that really counts. It’s not Ukraine, it’s America’s southern border with Mexico. The Biden Administration seems simply to have “opened it up.” Completely. And what’s happening is an ongoing catastrophe that’s fueling illegal immigration, human trafficking and drug smuggling. People from over 100 countries around the world have crossed the border illegally in the last year. We need to focus on this war on our own border here, at home - a strange war where it seems our adversary is our own federal government. What the Biden administration is doing is not incompetence at protecting our border, it's a deliberate policy to open it up. But we don’t have to wait for a change in the Administration. “A plain reading of the Constitution gives border state governors war powers under Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3 to interdict and remove illegal aliens to Mexico without the permission of the federal government” says former Trump homeland security official Ken Cuccinelli. If the federal government won’t protect the southern border, the states themselves can; moreover, governors from non-border states can also send help. Explaining how this could happen are my guests on this episode, principals in an exciting new policy shop, the Center for Renewing America. Russ Vought, the Center’s president, Director of the Office of Management and Budget  for President Trump’s full term in office, responsible for overseeing the implementation of the President’s policy, management, and deregulatory agendas across the entire Executive Branch. And Ken Cuccinelli, Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) and Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) under President Trump. Ken also served as Attorney General of Virginia, where he was the first in the country to sue over Obamacare, and made critical advances against human trafficking, health care fraud, gangs and child exploitation. This is a fascinating discussion, and not only about how we might deal with our border crisis, but also the many ways we could get a federal government that works for us, rather than the other way around.