Dan Proft spoke with Chris Clem, a former Department of Health and Human Services adviser and recently retired Chief Patrol Agent, about the current state of border security, the rhetoric from progressive leaders, and what real immigration reform should look like.
Clem, marking his 30th year since joining the Border Patrol, praised the current administration’s efforts to restore integrity to the immigration system. He credited the focus on enforcement under President Trump and leaders like Tom Homan and Pam Bondi for securing the southern border more effectively than at any point in his career. “It’s the most secure I’ve ever seen it,” Clem stated.
The conversation began with remarks from former Secretary of State John Kerry and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Kerry recently acknowledged the importance of enforcing immigration laws—an apparent shift from earlier climate-change-based justifications for global migration. Clem dismissed such explanations as “complete and utter nonsense,” saying the real draw for illegal migration has always been the lure of jobs and government benefits, not climate events.
Mayor Bass, meanwhile, denied recent reports of riots and violence against ICE agents, despite photographic and video evidence to the contrary. Clem was blunt in his criticism: “If the BLM riots were peaceful protests, now they’re just pretending nothing happened at all.” He also took issue with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s refusal to cooperate with ICE, calling it dangerous misinformation. “ICE is targeting criminals,” he emphasized, “not immigrants. Illegal aliens, not legal migrants.”
Clem also addressed the Biden administration’s recent move to deny illegal immigrants access to federally funded programs like Head Start, Title IX services, and housing assistance. He framed the decision as necessary to stop incentivizing illegal entry. Clem supported the idea that migrants should be able to voluntarily waive access to welfare programs in exchange for expedited legal entry, as a way to help those who genuinely seek opportunity while discouraging dependency on public resources.
He noted that the U.S. has long had legal tools to deny visas to individuals likely to become wards of the state, but those tools are rendered useless when migrants circumvent the process by entering the country illegally and falsely claiming asylum.
As the conversation turned toward potential reform, Clem emphasized the need to separate border security and enforcement from immigration policy. He warned against past attempts to trade amnesty for modest increases in security measures, saying those deals only incentivize future illegal immigration. However, Clem expressed support for streamlined worker programs in sectors like agriculture and hospitality—as long as the system distinguishes between legal and illegal entrants.
He stressed that many Americans would support temporary worker programs, provided there’s a secure border, strong enforcement, and no “free passes” for those who broke the law to get here. “We need to restart the system with common sense,” Clem said. “And we need leadership willing to make tough, but fair decisions.”
Clem closed by saying the country is finally on a path to border integrity, but long-term immigration reform will require the same kind of clarity and courage that’s been applied to enforcement over the past few years.