Former Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens on Border Security Challenges, Past and Future

This week’s episode of the Parsing Immigration Policy podcast features a wide-ranging conversation with recently retired Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens, who served for 30 years and led the agency during the worst border crisis in history. Owens speaks with the Center’s Executive Director Mark Krikorian about the evolution of the Border Patrol over its 100-year history, past lessons learned, and future challenges. Key points include:

• Career and History: Owens joined in 1996 as the Border Patrol was adopting national strategies like Operation Hold the Line and Operation Gatekeeper, shifting from chasing illegal crossers to preventing entry.
• Border Crisis Leadership: As chief, Owens navigated record flows, low morale, and shifting political directives, often focusing on “damage control” to preserve the agency’s mission.
• Barriers and Technology: Physical barriers serve as a “force multiplier” when deployed strategically, buying agents time to detect, respond, and apprehend.
• Future Challenges:
  • Smuggling potentially shifting to new routes
  • Aliens continuing to exploit loopholes, such as asylum.
  • Need for AI and translation tools to handle migrants from a large number of diverse countries.
• Border Patrol Growth: Owens stresses that expansion must be gradual, maintaining high standards and adequate training to avoid weakening the force. 

In his closing commentary, Krikorian highlights a widely reported Center study showing a 2.2 million decline in the immigrant population, including 1.6 million illegal immigrants, in the first half of 2025. Critics argued the drop might be artificial, caused by non-response to the monthly Current Population Survey (CPS) due to fear of enforcement. But Krikorian noted response rates have been falling steadily for years, with no sharper decline under recent enforcement policies, suggesting the measured reduction is real – and that new policies have been successful in reducing illegal immigration.Host Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

Guest

Jason Owens is former Chief of the Border Patrol.

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Intro Montage

Voices in the opening montage:

• Sen. Barack Obama at a 2005 press conference.
• Sen. John McCain in a 2010 election ad.
• President Lyndon Johnson, upon signing the 1965 Immigration Act.
• Booker T. Washington, reading in 1908 from his 1895 Atlanta Exposition speech.
• Laraine Newman as a "Conehead" on SNL in 1977.
• Hillary Clinton in a 2003 radio interview.
• Cesar Chavez in a 1974 interview.
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaking to reporters in 2019.
• Prof. George Borjas in a 2016 C-SPAN appearance.
• Sen. Jeff Sessions in 2008 comments on the Senate floor.
• Candidate Trump in 2015 campaign speech.
• Charlton Heston in "Planet of the Apes".