allen burson was one of the speakers at the event hosted by the americans for progress. this is an hour and a half. >> i think we'll get started. welcome, everybody. my name is marshall fitz, i'm the director of immigration policy here at the center for american progress. thank you all so much for coming. we obviously have a packed house, and i think it's going to be well worth your time. for the next hour or so i'll be moderating the conversation between our two highly distinguished panelists. we're going to be focusing on u.s.mexico border security, evaluating the past, present and future. the last 30 minutes i will open up to questions from all of you and so keep your questions ready. we'll pass the mike around at that time. so the focus of our discussion today is really on the most recent chapter in what is a rich and storied history at our southern border. over the last 18 years, it has gone -- undergone what can only be described as a dramatic transformation, and we're fortunate to be joined today by two people who can tell the story of that transformation perhaps

let me start with alan burson. allen has been the commissioner of current -- commissioner of customs and border protection since 2010. the overseas 57,000 employees. that is a small city. more than 21,000 border patrol agents. the commissioner has a long history well before he assumed this position at the southwest border. he was previously the assistant secretary for international affairs and the special representative for border affairs in the department of homeland security and he was also in the 1990's the u.s. attorney for the southern district of california and the attorney general of the southwest border rep. doris is currently a fellow at the migration policy institute doing fascinating work and cutting edge analysis, but as i indicated, during the 1990's, the entire tenure of the clinton in ministration, she was the commissioner of immigration and naturalization service's and really oversaw the initial border buildup. her rich and frankly unparalleled experience in this field goes back well beyond that. she was