WASHINGTON (AP) — Brandon Judd, president of the union that represents thousands of border patrol agents, has flipped the axiom that there are no winners in a government shutdown.
His proximity to President Donald Trump has elevated the union leader's profile while burnishing the image of the U.S. Border Patrol, a backwater in prior administrations when compared to other federal law enforcement agencies like the FBI and Secret Service.
At the same time, Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, has helped to validate Trump's fiery immigration rhetoric and affirm his conviction that a wall at the southern border is urgently needed to stop what they've described as a humanitarian crisis.
Trump's demand that $5.