CLAY: We’re joined now by Tom Homan, former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, of course, ICE, worked in border security and immigration enforcement for 35 years, Visiting Fellow at the Heritage Foundation. Tom, we appreciate you making the time for us. Has the border ever been as bad, in your 35-year knowledge of the border situation, than it is today?

HOMAN: No, this is the worst it’s ever been. And not even close. By far. The last year they had 1.7 million illegal entries. And that was a historic record. We’re at two million already. We got two months left. We’re gonna end this year about 2.4, 2.5. The new historic record blowing away last year’s record; so it just keeps getting worse.

BUCK: Tom, it’s Buck. What are the front line Border Patrol agents telling you they’re facing now? And also what does their leadership from D.C. tell them about the situation? I mean, there must be at some level a recognition that there’s no effort made whatsoever from this Biden White House to try to push back on this tidal wave of illegal immigration in the country. So what are the rank-and-file being told by D.C. leadership at ICE, at Border Patrol? What are you hearing?

HOMAN: They’re not being told anything. I mean, Border Patrol agents — that’s why you see these videos being leaked of the secretary having town halls — you notice he isn’t having any more of those — because the Border Patrol, they’re frustrated. They’re saying, the secretary of Homeland Security comes here for a town hall, and get in an argument because we’re not allowed to do our jobs and we got a crisis at the border, we don’t have enough resources to handle it, they just want to hear, what’s the plan? What’s the strategy? The secretary’s gonna make a trip down top the border, explain to ’em, what is your strategy? What is your plan? What’s the administration going to do? ‘Cause these agents are just working their butts off every day, 24/7, with a record number of migrants that has taken up to 70% of them off patrol, into facilities to change diapers, make baby formula, make hospital runs, make airport runs.

These guys can’t do their job. And all they want’s an answer. What is the plan? What is the strategy? How we gonna secure the border? Are we not gonna secure the border? The administration doesn’t talk to ’em so let the men and women of Border Patrol, the men and women of ICE, they’ve lost confidence in the president, they lost confidence in the secretary of Homeland Security. They feel they’ve been abandoned by both of them — and they have. So the Border Patrol and ICE morale is in the toilet. You know, I’m proud that they get up and go to work, you know, do what they can, but they’re not allowed to do their job, up hold the oath they took, it’s terrible.

CLAY: Tom, it seems clear that the cartels are also flexing their muscle in a way that we have never seen before. Fentanyl shipments continuing to roar across the border, killing hundreds of thousands of people in the United States, in addition to our own border security being as you said weaker than we’ve ever seen in 35 years, have the cartels’ power on the southern side of this border ever been higher than it is right now?

HOMAN: No. The Mexican cartels control our southern border. I’ve had several chief patrol agents tell me directly they have lost operational control of our southern border. They cannot contain what’s coming through, as evidenced by the nearly 900,000 got-aways since Joe Biden come president. These are got-aways that are filmed, sensor, drone traffic. These are people that enter the countries illegally and Border Patrol couldn’t arrest them because they didn’t have the resources to do it. So, you know, one chief patrol used the term “Broken Arrow.” That’s the term he used to me. He was overrun, we can’t contain it.

So Mexican cartels are powerful. They’re making more money right now than they’ve ever made. They’re making record money with alien smuggling, they’re making record money with human and sex trafficking and women, they’re making record money on drug smuggling. When you got up to 70% of Border Patrol agents off the line, they’re moving massive amounts of drugs. That’s why you see so many overdose deaths of fentanyl. DEA says 95% comes across the southwest border. Why? Because up to 70% of border agents aren’t on the line. So, you know, the cartel’s having a field day. And that’s why you’re seeing so much violence in Mexico right now. The cartels are fighting each other for control of the border.

BUCK: Speaking to Tom Homan, former Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting director. Tom, you know, we’ve been talking today about how Republicans — it’s not enough to point out, although it’s a necessary, really a precondition for the debate, the failures of this Biden administration, specifically on the border. But fixing this. What does fixing this situation look like? I mean, if someone made you — and I know a guy who just might at some point — border czar and you were in charge of restoring law and order down there, what would that look like? What needs to happen?

NEW: CBP reports 10 people on the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB) were arrested by Border Patrol at Southern border in July.

There have now been 66 TSDB hits so far in FY’22.

That’s more than double the previous 5 years combined.

FY’17-FY’21 TSDB hits: 26@FoxNews

— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) August 16, 2022

HOMAN: We’d dust off the Trump policies and reinstate them in one day. And we’d get control of the border in 30 days. We would reinstate Remain in Mexico, full throttle. We would reinstate Title 42, full throttle. We would reinstate the 3rd country agreement. So if you’re escaping, you know, so-called asylum from Honduras, you get to Mexico, guess what? You get asylum in Mexico ’cause you’ve escaped that so-called fear and persecution. We would continue building the wall. We would stop catch-and-release. We’d detain those we had to detain, they would be detained. And we would remove people, they get the remove order.

It’s been done. We had the border the most secure it’s ever been, and more work to do. We had to fish the wall and two other things — I read a lot in the paper right now, people say, well, obviously the walls don’t work ’cause you got record illegal immigration. Well, you’re a moron because — second question would be, “Where are they coming in? They’re coming where there isn’t a wall. So we continue building a wall. We dust off the Trump plans and put it in place, we get the border under control within 30 days, if not sooner. We had the president — where the president would be, hopefully it would be Trump, call Mexico and say you’re gonna do this, you’re gonna do that, or I’m gonna tear up the hell out of you. You wouldn’t be sending money to Central American countries like it’s been done, like the Biden administration is doing. We’ve done it for decades. It don’t work. What President Trump did is says, hell, I’m not giving them a dime. Matter of fact I’m gonna take money away if they don’t step up and do what they’re supposed to do. And that’s what he did.

He didn’t pay a bribe to these Central American countries. Whatever international aid you get from the United States, it ends if you don’t start doing what you’re supposed to do on your border. And it worked. So we just reinstated Trump policies and take a little further and we will secure the border.

CLAY: Outstanding stuff, as always, Tom. We appreciate your time. And we need to keep you on the show as often as we can to let people know what a disaster it is at the border. We appreciate everything you did to help make it safe there.

HOMAN: Okay. Thank you, sir.