0:02

Coming up on the Mark Devine Show. Look,

0:05

the Border Patrol to me is probably

0:07

the most patriotic law enforcement that we

0:09

have in America. Those men and women

0:11

have chosen to defend our nation, and

0:13

they are the first line defense against

0:15

any kind of terrorist act. And so

0:17

genuinely, the career field is such a

0:20

valuable career that we need in America.

0:26

All right, welcome to

0:28

the Mark Devine Show. This is your host, Mark Devine. We're

0:30

stoked to have you here today. Thanks so much for your

0:32

time. On the Mark Devine

0:34

Show, I'd like to explore what it's

0:36

like to be fearless by discussing people

0:38

who are amongst the most inspirational and

0:40

compassionate, resilient leaders and warriors in the

0:42

world. I speak to folks from all

0:44

walks of life, people that I consider

0:47

to be unbeatable. My guest today is

0:49

another unbeatable warrior, former Border Patrol agent

0:51

Vincent Vargas, who's releasing a new book,

0:53

or just released a new book called

0:55

Borderline. Vincent was born and

0:57

raised in San Fernando Valley. In his

0:59

early years, he was a college baseball

1:01

player. He left that to service country

1:04

in the US Army, served three combat

1:06

deployments with the second battalion of the

1:08

75th Ranger Regiment. After the Army,

1:10

he transitioned to reserves where he continues to service today,

1:12

and then took on a new challenge in 2009 to

1:14

become a federal agent with the Department of Homeland Security

1:16

in the Border Patrol. As a

1:18

boar star, they call it agent, he had

1:21

the privilege of being attached to the Special Operations Group.

1:23

Later on, he became the proud

1:25

owner of Beterrin, Light the Fused

1:27

Wellness, and Other Ventures, and

1:29

then the World of Entertainment beckoned. So

1:31

he's involved in a spinoff of Sons of

1:33

Anarchy called Mayans MC as an actor and

1:36

a writer. Vincent is blessed to

1:38

be married and a father to eight kids who

1:40

make their home in Dallas, Texas. Before

1:42

I get into the show, I wanted you to know that I'm

1:44

opening up slots for our Unbeatable

1:47

Coach certification and our Unbeatable Team for

1:49

2024. The Unbeatable

1:51

Team is an amazing year of transformational training.

1:53

It's where I direct my full attention and

1:55

time in coaching and training. I don't do

1:58

it anywhere else. and the

2:00

Unbuilt team that I can give my full

2:02

attention to help those deeply committed to transforming

2:04

to become uncommon in a world that

2:06

you know is rapidly collapsing into fear, moral

2:09

relativism, and mediocrity. We meet virtually every

2:11

month as a team, come together four

2:13

times during the year for three days

2:15

of powerful in-person training and practice, and I'm

2:17

here to help you break through any barriers

2:19

and to crush all of your goals

2:21

for 2024. So if you're

2:24

ready to go deep with me and willing to

2:26

do the work, I can guarantee amazing strides

2:28

will be made. Go to

2:30

unbeatableteam.com and unbeatablecoaching.com

2:33

to learn more about these unbeatable events. Now,

2:37

back to the show. Vince,

2:41

I was excited to see that I had this

2:44

opportunity to chat with you, my fellow brother

2:46

in arms, 75th Ranger Regiment,

2:48

border patrol, man, so many fascinating things happening

2:50

on the border in the last few years.

2:52

Yeah, absolutely. Can't wait to talk about that.

2:55

So what I always like to do is

2:57

kind of like give you an opportunity to,

3:00

give us a little bit of the origin story. Like where

3:02

are you from? What were your parents

3:04

like? What were some of the early kind of

3:06

influences that began to shape this life that you

3:09

call yours, and then we'll get into

3:11

some other stuff. I'm originally from Los Angeles, California,

3:13

a city called San Fernando. My parents

3:15

both moved there. My mother, she

3:18

was born in El Paso,

3:20

a small city, a little small little

3:22

town called Gunneville, and she moved to

3:24

LA around 18. My

3:26

father moved to LA around 14 from the

3:28

Bronx, New York. He's a Puerto Rican kid,

3:31

and he got herself into some trouble early

3:33

on with gang violence. And back then it

3:35

wasn't true to type gangs, it was more

3:37

like he had a pipe in a fight

3:39

protecting his, whatever, his honor.

3:42

And the judge gave him an opportunity to

3:44

join the Marines and instead go to jail.

3:47

And so he went to the Marine Corps.

3:49

And so, yeah, I was raised by a

3:51

really tough Vietnam era, but he

3:53

missed the war. They ended before he got

3:55

out of basic training. It was a good

3:57

upbringing. He was a very stern kind of

3:59

individual. He kept me active in

4:02

sports so that I wouldn't find myself into

4:04

the gang life that LA was so famous

4:06

for, if you will. Since I was four

4:08

years old, I played baseball, and really, baseball

4:10

has kind of took over my life all

4:12

the way until I went to college and

4:14

played ball as well. You played ball in

4:16

college. Good for you. Where did you

4:18

go to college? First, I went to a community

4:21

college named Glendale Community College, and then went to

4:23

a Kentucky college called Brush University. It's

4:26

an NAI college for baseball. You

4:29

recruited to play baseball there. Kentucky's

4:31

a long way away from LA. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

4:35

Yeah. It was a whole new world for me. I

4:37

think it was. So tell

4:39

us about the transition. Did you go into

4:42

the Army after college right away, or what

4:44

was next? I lost my

4:46

full-ride scholarship. I was academically ineligible

4:49

at that point. I had a daughter on the way as well.

4:52

I've always wanted to be a parent.

4:54

Didn't bother me being a dad, but

4:56

I didn't have anything financially supporter. So

4:58

the only thing I can think of

5:01

that would answer a lot of questions for

5:03

me was joining the military. It'll give me some

5:05

kind of purpose after baseball. It'll give me a

5:08

paycheck so I can support my daughter, and it gives me

5:10

a new mission. I went to the recruiting

5:12

office, and I joined as an Army Ranger,

5:14

option 40 contract infantry. I didn't know you

5:16

could do that. That's interesting. But I guess,

5:18

I mean, it feels you can get a

5:20

contract if you qualify to go to Bud.

5:22

So it makes it similar to that, huh?

5:24

You're kind of guaranteed a shot. Yeah, exactly.

5:27

In option 40, you have Ranger in a

5:29

contract. As long as you pass basic training,

5:31

then you pass airborne, you go straight to

5:33

RIP, which at that time was called Ranger

5:35

Inductment Program. Now it's called Ranger Assessment Selection

5:38

Program. If you pass all those, yeah, you're

5:40

going straight to battalion. Tell us about that

5:42

training, and what were some of the

5:44

big insights or lessons from Ranger Training?

5:47

I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

5:49

I was just excited to join the military. I

5:52

knew that if I made it to

5:54

Ranger Battalion, it would be less time

5:56

in combat and surrounded by a bunch

5:58

of hardcore chargers. At the time,

6:01

Ranger Regiment went overseas from three to

6:03

four months, sometimes six months depending but

6:05

that would be considered a long tour.

6:08

Having my daughter in my life, I wanted to try and

6:10

find more time with her so I thought it would be

6:12

the best decision for me. I don't tell you the rest

6:15

of your time is spent training off everywhere. Yeah, I didn't

6:17

know the rest of the story. Going

6:21

through the training, it was always on my mind like I want to be

6:23

home with my daughter and I want to make her proud. My

6:25

biggest push was don't quit so

6:28

I can get to write it down and also that she'll be

6:30

proud of me one day. I was surprised.

6:32

I was surprised that when I took to military

6:34

really well, I was athletically inclined

6:36

to be able to run and do push-ups instead

6:38

of some sort of like the physical aspects of

6:41

it wasn't a challenge as much as mentally like

6:43

seeing how far I could get pushed. I had

6:45

no idea if I had the quit button. I

6:47

had never been pushed hard enough in life. The

6:50

hardest thing I did before the military was hell

6:52

week in football. I think I surprised myself as

6:54

I kept getting through the training and I kept

6:56

graduating and I was like, oh, okay,

6:59

well, maybe this is something I'm decent at. Then

7:02

eventually when I graduated, like

7:04

I said, the hardest part was probably

7:06

the academic side of anything, those written

7:08

tests. Surprisingly, Ranger Regiment has

7:11

a written test. Yeah. Isn't

7:13

a battalion different than the 75th

7:15

is in SOCOM but battalions are

7:17

in the regular army, right? So

7:20

if you have the option 40 contract, that is for

7:22

Ranger Battalion. That's the 75th Ranger Regiment.

7:24

That's the 75th, okay. What most people probably

7:26

don't understand how it works is you can

7:28

go there as a private and not have

7:30

a Ranger tab yet. Once you

7:33

get to Ranger Regiment, you actually have to earn

7:35

your way to go to Ranger School and that's

7:37

showing that you're mature enough passing certain PT tests

7:39

and as well as at this time was getting

7:42

a combat deployment under a belt. When

7:44

I got there, it was just waiting my time for the

7:46

long list of privates ahead of me. I had to beat

7:49

them out as well as I had to get a deployment

7:51

under my belt and that would open you up for the

7:53

option of going to Ranger School. Wow, okay.

7:55

That's interesting. So you had to have a

7:57

combat deployment in order to actually go to Ranger School. Yauchi

8:00

had some skills by then. Yes, sir. There's a

8:02

lot of people at Ranger School who don't have

8:04

combat experience Oh, right because you can go there

8:06

from the regular army. Yeah. Yeah, I got Ranger

8:09

School and you know, I'm an PFC I'm an

8:11

E3. I had two combat

8:13

deployments already you know, I show up

8:15

there and I have a lot of officers

8:17

who were straight out of OCS and Yeah,

8:21

I was showing them how to manage the guns

8:23

and they thought like what rig do you use

8:25

our first class? I know I'm a PFC. I

8:27

was nobody I just I'm a young dude I

8:29

just had a lot of experience. I almost went

8:31

to Ranger School, but this is 1990 And

8:35

so we ended up jockeying up to go over

8:37

to Desert Storm So that kind of

8:39

bumped it and then I never got around to it

8:41

But I had a lot of friends were just like

8:43

these other guys I'm talking about who went from buds

8:46

and then they're hanging around the team and the CEOs

8:48

like you flip not You know, you're

8:50

going to Ranger School Okay,

8:53

bunch of seals go to Ranger School just because

8:55

yeah, it's good training You know another kick in

8:57

the gym. It was good training. We don't really

8:59

get that kind of lerp type nav training in

9:01

the seals I mean more so not is not

9:04

when I was you know They kind of prepare

9:06

you for a long time and you do a

9:08

lot of like free schools to try and understand

9:10

it Really Ranger School is about 63 64

9:13

days. It's three different phases and The

9:16

whole point of it is to teach leadership.

9:19

It's managing your men in some of

9:21

the most austere environments They they haven't

9:23

slept much They haven't ate much and

9:25

you got to get them to make

9:27

good decisions on an objective and during

9:29

the time you're in Ranger School You're

9:31

doing things like raids and you're doing

9:33

ambushes and it's such a long days

9:35

and so little food that it's easy

9:37

for guys to fall asleep like mid

9:39

mission and completely rural mission and so

9:42

It's really learning how to manage people at

9:44

their hardest moment. They Just rotate leadership positions

9:46

Yeah, they just keep rotating. It's like once

9:49

you've got your go they call it, then

9:51

you just sit back and now you're just

9:53

one of the guys. and if you Get

9:55

a no-go then they can recycle you where

9:57

they give you another option or another chance.

9:59

And it's a. Thou And you guys are,

10:01

they're tired, they're hungry, they haven't slept

10:03

for ever and down. and when it's

10:05

not their day getting graded like. They

10:07

could care less sometimes about how well they

10:09

perform the hero in cells and says the

10:11

challenge is getting these as motivated for you

10:14

when when you need him to. It's one

10:16

of the best leadership schools I've ever been

10:18

to in Atlanta. Lot about myself and and

10:20

how much I can endure on but as

10:22

was how to manage be born in in

10:24

those kinds environments and so it was a

10:26

blessing was really fun school my enjoyed it

10:28

is are a lot of attrition. oh absolutely

10:30

wonderful news is why the schools just like

10:32

that. almost like a selection. Plaza. Started

10:34

biggest two hundred people and then by the end

10:36

of it you need may be graduating a group

10:38

or sixty and that sounds cool. I wouldn't really

10:40

want to do it now in my life but

10:43

I kinda wish I had gotten med students repair

10:45

quickly. would have been good for my next my

10:47

land as skills which were definitely a little bit

10:49

lacking. My. Mr guys is a laugh

10:51

like sir you know going to stick to

10:53

leadership new leave the land as the Us

10:55

and like check as as well now you

10:58

have Gps was changes every Mr episodes or

11:00

dented to tell us about your combat experience

11:02

and and in a kind of what was

11:04

that like were deserve and yet highs and

11:06

lows. Their my first tours in Afghanistan and

11:08

it was a pretty mild deployment out there.

11:11

was really learning as much that past and

11:13

being the new guy you know I the

11:15

guy that very often by the way as

11:17

I was in Afghanistan as a ranger and

11:19

was pretty mild. See folks most people won't

11:21

believe you. Reality of what what it's

11:23

blades is mild compared to like My

11:25

next appointed to Muzzle and two thousand baht

11:28

which was like comparable you was. It

11:30

was a good appointed to understand what

11:32

was going on it was. I got into

11:34

Ranger battalion out deploy within like forty

11:36

five days and so it was a lot

11:38

to take in. as a new. A

11:41

soldier in the military just to be with

11:43

under year you're already overseas. There. Was

11:45

a lot alluring the had to happen. You know, we

11:47

had some really good missions. I learned a lot. and

11:50

i was raised to see what was next to

11:52

i asked that deployment i had an option to

11:54

go to ranger school but already heard that we

11:56

had iraq next and you know part of the

11:58

to and i did one I wanted to see

12:00

them go without me, so I opted to just

12:02

go to the deployment instead of Ranger School. And

12:05

that was Mosul, and Mosul was one of

12:07

the hottest areas at the time.

12:10

You know, it was second to Fallujah was

12:12

a big one, and now Mosul was. And

12:14

a lot of action happening, you know, a

12:16

lot of, you know, we walked away with

12:18

a lot of Purple Hearts and very successful

12:20

deployment. What was the primary mission for you?

12:22

Hunt and capture? Kill and capture. And

12:24

we were doing TST missions, so time sets of target

12:27

missions most of the time. And then the days off

12:29

we were QRF for guys like Delta and

12:31

whatnot. And so we were actively doing missions.

12:33

And the way the missions were was really

12:35

cool that you would think you'd do one

12:37

mission in a day and it's done. Like,

12:39

no, we were doing six missions, six different

12:41

targets. Yeah, same with the teams. Yeah. We'd

12:44

bag them up, come in, and start gathering more intel, and

12:46

boom, do another one. And it just would... It was all

12:48

night. And so we did a lot of

12:50

damage in the formals we were there, and it was a

12:52

very successful deployment for us. You know, at

12:54

some point I was very concerned about, like, man, we

12:57

keep getting hit. You know, it's a numbers game. When

12:59

is it going to be my time, you know? Did

13:01

you lose anyone in your unit? No, we just took...

13:03

It was amazing. Yeah, we were very, very blessed. Yeah,

13:05

we... The vehicle in front of me blew up. They

13:08

hit an ID, and I could have

13:10

sworn when we popped the hatch with that striker,

13:12

I thought, like, man, what's going to be in

13:14

here? And everyone was kind of balled up in

13:16

pain, but they all survived. And it

13:19

was like, man, it was a blessing. And then

13:21

one of our opportunities, they took a hand grenade

13:23

and three or four of them got hit with

13:25

that grenade. But again, everyone survived. And so we

13:27

had these instances that we were just, like, a

13:29

lot of close calls and very fortunate that we

13:31

didn't have anything worse than that. That's amazing. Yeah,

13:34

so in between that time, I went to ranger school.

13:36

When I graduated ranger school, I had an injury. My

13:38

brachial plexus nerve damage in my shoulder, so this right

13:40

arm was dead at the time. And we weren't sure

13:42

if it was ever going to get feeling back because

13:44

of the way nerves grow. And

13:46

so I missed the next deployment. And in that deployment,

13:49

we lost a few of our men. And that was

13:51

a tough one. That was a tough one to know

13:53

that I missed it. Those are some guys I looked

13:55

up to. They were some of the best leaders in

13:58

my career and unfortunately. I

14:00

wasn't there to hopefully assist and be a part of

14:02

that, but I was a part of

14:04

taking them to their final resting place. And so,

14:06

that was an honor. As much as I was

14:09

hard, I felt I at least

14:11

got that kind of closure for myself. We

14:13

lost a guy in training, one of my best friends.

14:16

He was killed in a live fire training accident

14:18

that just unfortunately happens when you train like that.

14:21

Sometimes it shouldn't, but things happen. And

14:23

then my last tour was in Afghanistan again.

14:27

And you know, Op Tempo was big, but the weird

14:29

thing about Afghanistan to Iraq for me was

14:32

Afghanistan was dry hole, dry hole, dry

14:34

hole, boom, action. And it was different

14:36

in Mosul. It was like always action,

14:38

action, action. Iraq was urban fighting and

14:40

Afghanistan was more rural, right? Yeah. And

14:42

so, you had longer distances to travel and like a single

14:44

home versus a city block to clear.

14:47

Yeah, it wasn't uncommon to get dropped off by

14:49

helicopter and walk in seven clicks. You know, like

14:51

that was a typical mission for us in Afghanistan.

14:53

I mean, your injury obviously healed up for that.

14:56

Yep. Yeah, it healed. And you

14:58

know, after losing those two men... You knew you were

15:00

done after that deployment before you went into it. It

15:02

was time to go try something different. Okay. Well,

15:04

thank you for your service. All the listeners do

15:07

as well. Any issues with post-Semitic stress or you

15:09

or some of your teammates? I didn't even think

15:11

about any of that because I was so busy

15:13

trying to get another job and I had kids

15:16

and I was so busy, I felt

15:18

bad for leaving my friends. And I know

15:20

they had Sean Petry. He received

15:22

the Medal of Honor shortly after I

15:24

left in the next deployment. What

15:27

he was doing was also with another private of mine that

15:29

I worked with. And so, like it was all connected. I

15:32

started to feel really guilty for leaving the team.

15:34

But more so, I was so busy and I

15:36

was drinking so often that I didn't really acknowledge

15:38

it until later on. When

15:40

I finally became a Border Patrol agent, I knew

15:43

like, okay, cool. I found the career I wanted.

15:45

And so, as I started kind of settling

15:48

into that, because life slowed down all of

15:50

a sudden, I was in this panic. And

15:52

I started to realize these little things that

15:54

would pop up would be certain smells that

15:56

would be in Afghanistan or Iraq and Night

15:59

terrors were starting to happen. Happen more often and and

16:01

I couldn't I didn't understand that and I

16:03

didn't feel it to had any problems for

16:05

two three years and then all sudden so

16:07

I'm sober currently for half years now. Because.

16:10

I need to manage that side of

16:12

my life I was using drinking to gonna

16:14

cope in seal and Shine safeguard myself

16:16

from having bad dreams and memories and so

16:19

in the past ten years I've taken a

16:21

a big leap into the wellness and

16:23

and mindfulness to gonna heal that side of

16:25

me I took to writing as a

16:27

D. Repeated value into the acting is therapeutic

16:30

value that takes a lot of self

16:32

awareness to be a writer and an actor

16:34

and so in order to no emotional developments

16:36

part and parcel of you want to

16:38

be good at his or. I did see what

16:40

you're saying there. For. My generation. There

16:43

was virtually nothing except for a broken

16:45

V A, but it's nice to see

16:47

the support this now available. For.

16:50

Our brothers and sisters, you know, there's all sorts

16:52

of organizations now mostly non profit, but even of

16:54

eastern to get their act out in August. Motown

16:56

is like you said. You go to yoga retreat,

17:00

You could do psychedelic therapies? Mdr have?

17:02

No. I've tried a Mod Valley the

17:04

Foundation to Help that's called Occurred Foundation

17:06

and I don't my to promote anything

17:08

that I don't have direct experience with.

17:10

Some. Have

17:13

done across the board him at stuff they are

17:15

that works you know they have. Maybe everyone has

17:17

to find their own path Are. Absolutely

17:19

yeah them same thing. I consider myself a little

17:22

bit of a guinea pig and in attempting and

17:24

trying may give a modalities. Yeah was Special Ops.

17:26

Guys are not afraid to be guinea pigs. You

17:28

have. To.

17:31

Rework for years to tell us about it. I

17:33

live down in the border. almost a deck seemed

17:35

corn out. I was frankly right on the border.

17:37

yes we're used to go across a tier one

17:40

all the time but not so much anymore. you

17:42

know to little bit sketchy down there he out

17:44

for you were in the border patrol the did

17:46

you serve in Texas or Arizona? San Diego? Where

17:49

whereabouts were you. in the del rio

17:51

sector which is del rio out that are

17:53

eagle pass and comstock i like as a

17:55

dislike a long list of on but del

17:57

rio sector is why i was at first

17:59

and then vessel transferred to SOG, the Special

18:01

Operations Group out of Paso, Texas. Okay,

18:06

we're going to take a short

18:08

break here from the Mark Devine Show to hear a short

18:10

message from one of our partners. And

18:13

now back to the show. Tell

18:17

us what that's like. What was it like

18:19

being an agent in the border patrol? What's

18:22

really going on besides what you read in

18:25

the paper or you hear the political blabbers

18:27

talking about? Well, the border patrol

18:29

to me is probably the most patriotic law

18:31

enforcement that we have in America. Those

18:34

men and women have chosen to defend

18:36

our nation and they are the first

18:38

line defense against any kind of terrorist

18:40

act. And so genuinely, the career field

18:42

is such a valuable career that we

18:44

need in America. The

18:46

problem is, and why I even wrote the

18:48

book was I was very tired of everyone

18:51

giving their opinion on a subject that they

18:53

had no information or no knowledge of. The

18:56

world and the news addresses border

18:59

patrol as border control or they

19:01

identify the blue uniforms

19:03

as border patrol agents, which is false, or

19:05

they don't know the difference between customs border

19:07

patrol and ICE. They're doing

19:09

a disservice to the agency because they're

19:12

making assumptions and those assumptions have been

19:14

detrimental to the morale of the border

19:16

patrol. You see that daily where

19:18

people blame the border patrol for everything. They're

19:20

the reasons why this or they're not doing

19:22

their job. Just

19:24

like the sheriff's department doesn't determine the speed

19:27

limit, the border patrol doesn't determine

19:29

the policy. And so my goal

19:31

in writing this book was to explain how

19:33

policies are created, but as well as what

19:35

the job day in and day out of

19:37

the border patrol agent is. And

19:40

for those who are listening, the job

19:42

for a border patrol agent is to

19:44

apprehend and process genuinely. So they stand

19:47

in positions that are high vis for

19:49

deterrence or they go cut sign or

19:51

they look for tracks of people who've

19:54

entered illegally in America outside of a

19:56

port of entry. And so

19:58

the goal was to explain the day in

20:00

and day out. job. Their job is to

20:02

try and stop and do.

20:23

If the individuals themselves say, I'm

20:27

from my country, right? Okay, the border situation

20:29

is not the person who makes that determination.

20:31

The border choice just process the paperwork, hands

20:33

it off to ICE and ICE manages what

20:35

happens next. Eventually, those people

20:38

will wait for an opportunity to see the

20:40

immigration judge for the immigration judge to make

20:42

a determination of the case. But that's not

20:44

border-related just job. And so in

20:46

the end of the day, my job was to for

20:48

writing this book, I felt

20:51

like I wanted to continue to serve my

20:53

country and as someone who was a former

20:55

border agent who's seen and who understand the

20:57

career field, I felt that if I could

20:59

put into words in a way that's digestible,

21:01

other people will start to really understand the

21:03

foundation of what the Border Patrol does and

21:05

I think that will help enlighten the rest

21:07

of the questions they have for how immigration

21:09

is and why it is what it is

21:11

today. Yeah, first off, are there a lot

21:13

of Hispanics in the border patrol?

21:15

Yeah. It would make sense to me, right? It

21:18

must be kind of confusing for some of them.

21:20

Like dang it, you know? Yeah, you should just

21:22

let me go buddy. You got a chance. Right,

21:25

yeah, you definitely get a lot of like

21:27

what's going on? Maybe we're the same, you know, but

21:29

it's not. You know, I think it's over 60-70% of

21:31

the border patrol

21:33

is Hispanic of some sort and

21:36

understanding why that is, I think people think

21:38

that's a conflict of interest and it's not.

21:41

Like we're Americans, we're American citizens and

21:43

we want to continue to uphold the values

21:45

of what America is and that means that

21:48

there's rules and in those rules means you

21:50

have to enter into the country legally. It

21:52

is a very good job and it pays

21:55

very well compared to most law enforcement officer

21:57

jobs and so I have empathy for anyone

21:59

who want to come and live in

22:01

America because America is this great nation

22:03

and they want opportunity. But

22:06

that empathy only goes so far as for me to still

22:08

do my job because I don't know who anyone

22:10

is who's coming across the border who has bad

22:12

intentions. And so the only answer for us is

22:15

to stop everyone. Yeah, I agree. Obviously,

22:17

there's the issue of drugs and fentanyl is

22:19

such a big deal as coming across the

22:21

border, but also people are worried about, you

22:24

know, jihadis and terrorists. Did you

22:26

see any of that? Tell us about some of

22:28

your experiences. Yeah, you know, I still do a

22:31

lot of consulting for the Border Patrol right now

22:33

and I go down to the border and I

22:35

kind of do observations and I work with a

22:37

lot of the local law enforcement as well. And

22:39

you know, the concept of that, they call that

22:42

exotics, right? So you have Mexicans who are from

22:44

Mexico, you have other than Mexicans, anyone from south

22:46

of the border. So very common Hondurans

22:48

or Guatemalans, those are very common, you

22:51

know, countries that come across

22:53

illegally. But the ones who are

22:56

not very common, we call them exotics.

22:58

And those exotics are like Afghanistan, right?

23:00

Or African or you know, Chinese. And

23:02

anytime you have an exotic, you really

23:04

have to be concerned about the distance

23:06

they traveled just to come through illegally.

23:09

And that is a concern. That is someone who has

23:11

money for one, you know, what's their objective?

23:13

Is it really just to come to America for

23:16

the island of opportunity? Or is it more? Someone

23:18

like me who has a tactical background, I see,

23:21

you know, there's a duality in this where people

23:23

come across all the time because they want a

23:25

better opportunity. Obviously, they have to go

23:28

through the process that the policies are in place. But

23:30

why? Why are some of these exotic countries

23:32

coming in more so now than ever, the

23:35

tactical side of my brain gets very

23:37

concerned about what that looks like five years from

23:39

now. I don't fear monger this

23:41

subject because I think enough people already do.

23:44

I do sit in a position who have

23:46

seen the worst of things overseas. And

23:49

I do get concerned about the

23:51

numbers of exotic countries

23:53

that are coming across illegally through

23:56

the southern border. What percentage are

23:58

actually apprehended of all It's

24:01

a great question. I'll say, just the

24:03

other day, we'll just do it this

24:05

way. In the Del Rio sector, I

24:07

believe they apprehended over 8,000 illegal for

24:09

the month. That's

24:12

huge. And that's just one sector, one

24:14

area. One sector, exactly. And that's pretty

24:16

extreme. But that's the number. And

24:19

then what they have listed for Godaways is

24:21

what we call it. I believe it

24:23

was in the thousands. And at Godaways,

24:25

how do you determine that? Well, that's because I've

24:27

been able to track the footprints all the way

24:29

to maybe a road and determine that those footprints

24:31

don't cross the road. So it's only obvious they've

24:34

been picked up at that road. And

24:36

that's only the ones that they're counting. When

24:39

you say the border is secure, right? Or Malloacres

24:41

says the border is secure. What

24:43

his definition and what our definition might be

24:45

is sparkly different. Slightly different.

24:47

Right. And so as much

24:49

as, yes, you have board races on the line, yes,

24:51

you have everyone's doing their job. That doesn't

24:53

mean that just because you catch 20

24:56

here, 100 didn't get away this way or that

24:58

way. Right. And

25:00

so, you know, I would say there's probably a good, and I'm

25:02

going to be very vague here with 20%, probably

25:05

get by with no one ever noticing. Do you think the

25:07

wall did and will help at all?

25:09

Because they're starting to rebuild it. There's always been

25:11

a wall. Like the misconception of like build the

25:13

wall, turn into kind of a political argument left

25:16

and right using it for their narratives or agendas.

25:18

But there's always been a wall. There's always been

25:20

a fence. I've always seen one on the California

25:22

side. I didn't know how far it extended. Yeah.

25:25

And it extends all the way. There's

25:27

different pockets of it. I believe having

25:29

a wall is very valuable because it

25:31

funnels traffic in areas where now agents

25:34

can have easier options. The

25:36

border's vast and there's areas that are so

25:38

hard to manage. I'm talking two, three hours

25:40

from anywhere. Those are the areas

25:42

that deserve something that slows down traffic. And

25:44

so the wall is valuable in that sense. And

25:47

no matter what, people will find a way to get

25:49

over it, under it, through it. And

25:51

that's fine. It just still slows down the traffic so

25:53

we can do our best to get to and apprehend

25:55

who we can. You know, Hamas

25:58

uses a latticework of tunnels, right? get

26:00

under Gaza, Israeli positions and

26:02

stuff. And I've heard there's tunnels

26:04

under the wall in certain areas. Is

26:06

that a big issue? Absolutely. In certain

26:08

areas, there's more than others. San Diego

26:10

is infamous for having tunnels all under

26:13

San Diego, and you catch them as

26:15

often as you can. But I

26:17

was just now central, and there was a tunnel they

26:19

just caught recently that went from the wall about a

26:21

mile in until it goes into a house. And there

26:23

was a house that it would just, they would exit

26:25

the house. And so it looks like just people coming

26:27

in and out of the house and no, they're using

26:29

the tunnel. This is a very common

26:31

practice in San Diego. It's very well known

26:34

for having tunnels all over the place. Like

26:36

what was the scariest thing that you had

26:38

to deal with as an agent? Besides the

26:40

bureaucracy. Right. Right. Managing

26:42

any kind of drug smuggling cases, those

26:44

are all of a concern. I've done

26:46

several, several busts of marijuana. In the

26:48

time of marijuana was a big deal.

26:51

Now it's so different. A big bust,

26:53

you know, 8,000, 12,000 pounds of dope.

26:58

You're always concerned if the smuggler is

27:00

carrying weapons. Right. And during my

27:02

time, we lost an agent named Brian Terry

27:04

to a rip cruise who were

27:07

stealing the dope from drug traffickers. And

27:09

you always have a concern when

27:11

someone's carrying drugs that they're carrying a rifle. And

27:13

so those are probably the most serious interactions you

27:16

have. I fortunately haven't had that. Every time I've

27:18

interdicted with it, they've been able to scatter and

27:20

they drop it and they run back. And so

27:22

there's moments where you feel it's close, you feel

27:24

like you might have engagement and then boom, it

27:27

scatters and it goes away. There's

27:29

a couple of times I've had failure to yield and

27:31

those are high speed chases. And as

27:33

much as those might be fun, those are

27:35

also very intimidating because who knows what ends

27:37

up there. And so I did, I

27:40

had a failure to yield in the book.

27:42

I talked about that the vehicle was known

27:44

for smuggling firearms. And so when

27:46

you get that call over the radio, it says

27:48

vehicle known for smuggling firearms, you already know that,

27:50

okay, well, they have firearms. And so you're, you're

27:52

kitting up even better. You're double checking, making sure

27:54

you're, you know, you're, you're locking and loading and

27:56

you're like, here we go. In

27:58

that scenario. The and getting away from

28:01

as because when you go to a school zone.

28:03

Are. Rules are we have to slow down

28:05

and Vassiliev sound the vehicle and when we

28:07

sound the vehicles completely emptied. So whatever they

28:09

had with they got away with it is

28:12

human trafficking and issue at the southern border

28:14

as he is more than an issue. I

28:16

think that's one of the biggest issues you

28:18

have Trembley right now. When. You think

28:20

us why? Because drugs is kind

28:22

of changed the landscape of drugs,

28:24

because marijuana has been legalized in

28:26

several states. I think that's change

28:29

And so what is a the

28:31

most valuable commodity currently is humans.

28:33

And. Smuggling humans and seventy humans is

28:36

is is fairly easy compared to what

28:38

you might think. That's. Why when

28:40

you saw the images years ago about separating

28:42

kids from their parents want a big part

28:44

of what we have to do is we

28:46

as who investigate this narrow and if that

28:48

is their parent in the first place. Part.

28:50

Of that aims you separate adults from children.

28:52

You start to do the investigation. People

28:55

understand like all most of those aren't

28:57

even their families. those are like someone's

28:59

paid them to transport them. And who

29:01

knows what happens in have those females

29:04

of age from nine to two even

29:06

older aren't They had to take birth

29:08

control so they'll get pregnant on the

29:10

way. It's not if it's when they

29:13

get raped and so very very dangerous

29:15

and unsettling concept. but. That. Is

29:17

the most It's price commodity Currently right

29:19

now is human trafficking. Are we making

29:21

a dent down? There are no. Or

29:23

is it has. Said so I think what you

29:26

see currently it's a little bit of a

29:28

said So yes. And. That.

29:30

Is due to the sacked as. We.

29:32

Don't have anything in place for the massive

29:34

influx of immigration that's happening around me. There's

29:37

nothing that we can do when you have

29:39

a thousand people ten thousand people come across

29:41

the border. Who is supposed to house them

29:43

was supposed to feed them. Were we supposed

29:45

to go? Were. So backed up in

29:48

our immigration process when it comes to

29:50

sing and immigration judge that they're getting

29:52

notice who appears as and and see

29:54

a and same boat go to a

29:56

sponsor's house here in America and come

29:58

back in six months. Years? Whatever.

30:00

it is right? Ever heard that some of

30:02

the ten years right now much and confirm

30:04

that? But then what? Those people are in

30:07

America now. Doing. Whatever they want to

30:09

the next however many years until they have an

30:11

immigration date to determine whether their cases valor them

30:13

out. And so there's nothing charlie

30:15

in place that can help. Fix.

30:18

This, They're doing the best they can. Border

30:20

phases are genuine, doing the best they can.

30:23

And the immigration process is doing the best they

30:25

can, but we're only doing with the policies allow

30:27

us to do and whether policies tell us to

30:29

do. And. So in the event

30:31

that people aren't happy with the current

30:33

situation, it comes down to who you

30:35

vote, how you vote, and really understanding

30:38

what policies are voting for you. As

30:40

an insider and Moon a consultant like

30:42

what you see, the gap and policy

30:44

besides in. In. Is

30:46

inexcusable and when a lot of that but like

30:48

if of a sudden everyone whoever is in the

30:50

current White House or even the in a future

30:53

one was like okay, didn't tell me how to

30:55

fix this. What? Would you say that's

30:57

a hard one? You know because there's not

30:59

a one plus one equals to answer there's

31:01

no are high as besides a mouthful laird

31:04

echelon approach to this on talk and we

31:06

need to one have some kind of education

31:08

going down south and explain how immigration works

31:10

to legally and explaining the it's the tell

31:13

her psychological operations new cartel saying date See

31:15

this. Here's the truth. You have any the

31:17

leaflets the say if you come on the

31:19

borders not going to go out right now

31:21

go the way you wanted to serve. You

31:24

know and I know how this works. But

31:26

we need that. We need some town at Intel

31:28

that's going to be explaining the truth. We.

31:30

also needed nights not incentivize coming over illegally

31:32

with incentivize that and so now you have

31:34

a what you're telling me i can just

31:36

go ended in they can give me food

31:39

agree money the going to give me a

31:41

plane tickets right and so when you incentivize

31:43

as they would you think's gonna happen it's

31:45

gonna call their sense they do come out

31:47

right in i think disease be a of

31:49

strong a repercussion on those account enter illegally

31:51

if you've broken the law i believe you

31:53

know they should be some type jail time

31:55

even that those were claiming asylum have to

31:57

be held accountable for breaking the law still

32:00

Right? And I know you're claiming asylum, but

32:02

there's a process for that. And anytime you're

32:04

entering into America outside of the port of

32:06

entry, you're breaking the law. And so

32:09

there's a long list of things that need

32:11

to happen. It's a seven liter cake of decisions that need

32:13

to be made. I think when we

32:15

stop incentivizing illegal immigration, you'll start to see

32:18

a dent in that already. Politically, there doesn't

32:20

seem to be any appetite for that, unfortunately.

32:22

I think it's frustrating for a lot of

32:24

people. I try to get you angry on

32:27

the subject because this is my subject matter

32:29

expert position. And I know a lot of

32:31

morale in the Border Patrol is low at

32:33

the moment because it feels sometimes that they're

32:36

handcuffed and not able to do their own

32:38

job. So is there any other key takeaway

32:40

from Borderline, the book that you'd like to

32:42

share? Yeah, absolutely. The book itself was written

32:45

for multiple reasons. I know the morale of the

32:47

Border Patrol is a little low right now. And

32:49

for them to see that they have a voice

32:52

on the outside that supports them, that believes in

32:54

them, is what the goal of the book is.

32:56

It also is to hopefully be a big recruiting

32:58

tool for the Border Patrol. For those who don't

33:00

understand the career field, don't know the levels of

33:02

special operations you can do, things you can do in

33:04

the Border Patrol that are just second to the military,

33:07

why wouldn't you try the Border Patrol? So it's

33:09

a recruiting tool for the Border Patrol as well.

33:11

And it's a tool for those who really want

33:13

to know more, but just don't. I've written it

33:16

in a way that has digestible information. It goes

33:18

down the path of my experience as a Border

33:20

Patrol agent. It talks about all these little parts

33:22

that most people wouldn't understand. And I

33:24

think it really explains the duality of Homeland

33:27

Security and immigration policy and how we as

33:29

a country want to have both of those

33:31

to be successful for us as a country

33:33

that is built on immigration, but we also

33:35

have to be a country that protects our

33:37

safety and our freedoms. And so it really

33:39

breaks that down and explains it in a

33:42

way that I think anyone can read this

33:44

and enjoy and understand. And it

33:46

really is my goal to tell the Border Patrol

33:48

man that I love and respect what they do

33:50

daily, and it is not unnoticed. Yeah, it's important

33:52

work. Do you have a special website you'd like

33:54

people to go to to learn about the book,

33:56

or do you just send them to Amazon or

33:58

wherever? Yeah, you know... Amazon, you can go

34:01

to anywhere books are sold. I did the audiobook

34:03

myself with my voice. Jocko did the

34:05

forward. Oh, good. So we're really pushing. It

34:07

is the first imprint of the Jocko Press

34:09

publishing. Nice. We're very excited to see where

34:11

this goes. Yeah, you can find it anywhere

34:13

books are sold. I have to ask about

34:15

your acting. How did you get into that

34:17

and what are you currently working on? Well,

34:20

I got into it just by chance. I

34:23

produced a movie myself, me and some friends.

34:25

I really saw what it was like. I enjoyed

34:28

it. I started doing acting as therapy and I

34:30

got an opportunity to do an audition for a

34:32

major show and I landed it. So

34:34

I was on that show for the

34:36

past five years. It's called Mayans MC.

34:38

You can see it on Hulu. It

34:40

is the spin off of Sons of

34:42

Anarchy. My character was able

34:44

to go from the first take all the

34:46

way to the last pretty much. No kidding.

34:49

Oh, that's great. Yeah. And I became a

34:51

writer on that show for the last season

34:53

as well. It was an amazing five years

34:56

of my life. And now that that's done,

34:58

we are pitching several new television shows and

35:00

we're waiting to hear back and seeing which

35:02

ones we can continue on. Awesome. Well,

35:04

good luck with that. Thank you. Killer. Appreciate it. Vince,

35:06

well, thanks so much again for your service, both the

35:08

border patrol and the army and

35:11

for writing this book. It's important. Your

35:13

brothers down there and sisters, they deserve

35:15

to have better support. Yes, sir.

35:17

And to have the spirits lifted. So good job

35:19

there. What about social media? Where

35:21

can folks reach out and connect with you?

35:23

You can find me in just Vincent Rocco

35:25

Vargas, R O C C O Vincent Rocco

35:27

Vargas on Instagram, Facebook, you name it. I'm

35:29

there. Right on, brother. Awesome. All right. Well,

35:32

who y'all thanks for showing up on the Mark

35:34

Devine show. I really appreciate it, brother. Yes, sir. Thank you so

35:36

much. I

35:40

love talking to warriors like Vincent. Thank you

35:42

so much for your time today, Vince,

35:44

and for the book, borderline and for

35:47

all the work you've done both in the army and now with

35:49

the border patrol and as an actor.

35:51

Good for you. You're a beacon of light

35:53

who yah. Show notes are up

35:55

on markdivine.com. Video will be up on my

35:57

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36:00

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out go to unbeedlemind.com to learn more or go

37:13

to my website markdevine.com to get the full scope

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of all the stuff we got going on. Till

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next time thanks for doing the work. Hoo-yah!

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Appreciate you.