Welcome to the Untold Story podcast.

I'm Martha McCallum, and we're going to talk about the border today and where things stand between the United States and Mexico and the United States

and Canada. I'm very glad to be joined today by Ron Vidiello, Custom Border Patrol Senior

Advisor, former ICE acting director, and former U.S. Border Patrol chief, he has experience

that spans decades. Expertise, obviously, in border security and ICE.

And all of that has been invaluable to the United States of America.

Ron, thank you so much for joining me today.

Thanks for inviting me.

So, you know, I always like to start the Untold Story podcast by giving our listeners a little bit of insight into your background.

Where are you from?

How did you end up with a lifetime of dedication to security and our border?

Well, I was born and lived in the suburbs of Chicago when I was younger.

We moved to San Diego, California when I was in high school, stayed there until I got in

the Border Patrol and have moved all over the country.

After getting married, we were in Dallas, Texas, one of the first interior stations.

I worked on the border.

My first assignment was in Laredo, Texas, been in Tucson, Arizona, Swanton, Vermont on the northern border with Canada, moved all around the country with my family to serve, eventually becoming the chief at the headquarters and then matriculated up to a couple of senior executive positions, both at ICE and at CBP,

before I retired in 2019.

So you're still advising Customs and Border Patrol? Is that right, Ron?

That's right. I took an appointment with the Trump administration on January 20th and have been in the front office at Customs of Border Protection,

advising the commissioner's

office. So give me a sense of what the last, we're about 50 days into the Trump administration

...