It Could Happen Here CZM Rewind: Title 42, Pt 4: The Border Patrol
15 snips
Oct 17, 2025 Jen Budd, a former senior Border Patrol agent and intelligence officer, shares her insider perspective on Border Patrol operations and culture. She discusses the troubling implications of the 100-mile Constitution-free zone and how enforcement strategies have pushed migrant crossings into perilous areas. Budd reveals personal experiences of internal conflict, racism, and harassment within the agency. The conversation also touches on the militarization of the border, vigilante violence, and the chilling impact of surveillance on civil liberties.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Border Enforcement Reaches Deep Inland
- The US border enforcement system stretches far beyond physical borders, creating a 100-mile constitutional-free zone that affects two-thirds of the population.
- This legal framework lets CBP conduct suspicion-free searches and interior checkpoints with weakened Fourth Amendment protections.
Recording Sacred Sites And Border Walls
- James describes driving and recording along the southern border and meeting Kumeyaay people whose sacred sites were desecrated by wall construction.
- He recounts BORTAC agents confronting ceremony participants and the arbitrary, destructive logic of border walls.
Gatekeeper Pushed Migrants Into Deadlier Routes
- Operation Gatekeeper shifted enforcement to forward deployments and physical barriers, deterring crossings in urban areas but pushing migrants into harsher terrain.
- The strategy increased apprehensions in other sectors and contributed to a rise in migrant deaths.
