Paul Teller is the executive director of Advancing American Freedom.
Federal Newswire:
What’s behind the Biden Administration’s shift on erecting barriers at the Southern Border?
Paul Teller:
What's been so stunning to see is how the left in big cities–Chicago, New York–is just freaking out.
It's something they invited. They said, "Please, come here. You're an illegal immigrant. We got you. We'll take care of you."
I think that's made so much of it an elevated crisis. But now, when it's affecting left, right and center, not just the southern central part of our nation, but the Northeast, the Midwest, all of a sudden it is truly a national problem, whereas maybe before it was more regional.
Federal Newswire:
Was this a matter of not considering the unintended consequences?
Paul Teller:
Yeah. What we're also seeing is a breakdown of the rule of law. The irony of that is that so many well-meaning immigrants who are coming just for a better life, they're coming because they're in countries that have no rule of law. And the first thing they do when they get to America is break our rules.
When you lose the rule of law, when you open a border, you're incentivizing more to come. And part of that … has involved sex trafficking, drugs, illegal weapons trafficking, you name it. All of that flows from this disregard for the rule of law.
Federal Newswire:
How would you compare the Biden Administration approach with the Trump-Pence approach?
Paul Teller:
[The] Trump-Pence [approach resulted in], I think, a 90% reduction in illegal immigration, which also meant a dramatic reduction in sex trafficking, [and] the violence and enrichment of cartels. Part of [this].was the building of 450 miles of border wall. But some of it was the remain-in-Mexico policy. That was huge.
Federal Newswire:
Was the remain-in-Mexico policy the most essential element of their strategy?
Paul Teller:
That's right. Instead of waiting for your asylum hearing in Chicago, New York City, Dallas, wherever else, you're going to be waiting somewhere in Mexico.
Asylum doesn't just mean you're having a bad life and you want to move somewhere else. It's supposed to be that your life is in [imminent] danger and then you can seek asylum here. So if you're in Mexico and no longer in imminent danger, that should satisfy the needs of asylum.
Federal Newswire:
Is there a better way to get cooperation from Mexico?
Paul Teller:
Vice President Pence went down to Mexico and said, "If you don't help us out here, if you don't stop people from coming through your country and coming up illegally into ours, we're going to slap a massive tariff on everything coming into the United States."
Is that fantastic trade policy? No. The President and Vice-President knew that, but you use it as a stick to encourage the Mexican government to say, "You know what? Maybe I don't want to work with the cartels, and we're going to stop some of this flow."
Federal Newswire:
Is using sticks and carrots the best way to create the right incentives?
Paul Teller:
In certain cases you want to work a little bit with sugar and say, "Let's work together. I'll give you this, if you give me that." The problem is, with Mexico, the other actor doesn't quite have the incentive to be nice.
They're making a lot of money working with the cartels, and are actually enabling some of this traffic to come through their country. In that case, you are going to need a stick to say, "We're going to cut off that flow. The money that you're making, it's not only from illegal immigration, but also from business with the United States. We're going to reduce that."
Federal Newswire:
Explain the problems you encounter when negotiating immigration reform or how to resolve migration status for minors?
Paul Teller:
Two totally different goals. It's an interesting moment, with maybe left and right converging in terms of the ultimate goal. Even some on the left are starting to say, "Maybe the goal should be fewer people coming across the border." That's an amazing moment.
Federal Newswire:
How should Americans view Secretary Mayorkas’ call for building a wall on the southern border?
Paul Teller:
I’m not sure if they use the word wall, maybe barriers. It's hard to know what they actually mean by that.
But let's assume they mean something that will stop the flow in that local area. It is a concession [that the Trump Administration was] right, [and] not mean about it either. [If] you put up a fence around your house it doesn't mean you're mean, it just means you don't want people coming across your property willy-nilly.
...A colleague of mine, Ben Crosby, and I did a border visit between McAllen and Laredo, Texas a couple months ago. We even got to ride down the center of the Rio Grande River.
The thing that we saw, and you see this on TV, people are just coming in from anywhere through the bushes, fences. A physical barrier is absolutely needed to stop folks.
Federal Newswire:
What are the issues with making territory on the border extended wilderness areas?
Paul Teller:
Something that doesn't get talked about a lot is the different types of land that come right up to the border. Some are wilderness, some are just general government land. But some of it is private property. We're talking about people's private ranches, homes, and businesses that are pretty much right up to the border.
So when the cartels are bringing folks over, they're just stomping right across property. We even heard a story of a rancher who just says, "If you encounter a cartel guy, especially carrying kids or women with him, you're best to kind of look the other way." Because they make it clear we know where you live, we know where your family lives. Yet you just are supposed to absorb that. It's horrifying.
Everyone we talked to talked about how much the people getting the most raw end of the deal out of this are children. That they're used as pawns. The cartel knows that if you come across [the border] with a kid [and] you claim that child is yours or is your nephew or whatever, it's just a little bit harder for American officials to turn [them] away.
Federal Newswire:
Tell us about the paper you recently released.
Paul Teller:
The Future of Freedom–it's a legislative offshoot of our Freedom Agenda. We created this freedom agenda that is a menu of options for restoring freedom in America.
How do you bring back freedom in America? We figured if you're going to be named Advancing American Freedom, you better have a roadmap for advancing American freedom.
We are building a real and permanent institution for the conservative movement. We're just growing it…steady and strong. For us, we like to say our name is our mission.
Everything is about advancing freedom. Most importantly, how do you build policies, coalitions, messaging, legislation for the future to earn conservative wins and bring freedom back?
Federal Newswire:
What does freedom mean to you?
Paul Teller:
The way we look at freedom is, how can more people make more of their own choices with more of their own resources? It just boils down to that, and yet it's so controversial.
Federal Newswire:
Do you track what the current administration is doing that may impact freedom?
Paul Teller:
We have this thing we call the Biden Accountability Tracker or the BAT. It's on our website, www.advancingamericanfreedom.com. Easy to find there.
We're trying to make it as comprehensive as possible. That could be signing a certain bill, implementing a regulation, giving guidance to a certain number of bureaucrats. Whatever it is we've got it there so you can look it up and use it in your speeches, your radio hits, just even your conversations with family members.
Federal Newswire:
Where can people go to find out more about the work you do?
Paul Teller:
Go to our website, www.advancingamericanfreedom.com. All the things we talked about are on there, and then some, we'd love your feedback as well, so let us know.
