Todd Staples, Commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture and Class of 1984, returned to Aggieland on Wednesday to sign copies of his new book, “Broken Borders, Broken Promises: How Porous Borders Are Robbing America’s Future,” at the Texas Aggieland Bookstore.
“[‘Broken Borders, Broken Promises’] is a good read and I’d recommend that every Aggie pick it up and give it a read,” said Kyle Kacal, state representative and Class of 1992. “The border is key to a lot of our economic issues and social issues, especially political.”
His new book discusses current border security and the immigration issues that go along with it, as well as how he thinks the U.S. needs a better system to enter our workforce legally.
“I felt the best way to tell the story was to put it into book form to tell the story of Texan landowners,” Staples said. “I became involved in border security issues because landowners reached out to me.”
Staples talked about his struggles with getting resources from the federal government to help with the border situation.
Some people discussed the importance of having a representative with a background in agriculture because it is such a big part of Texas and its people.
“He’s been doing it a long time and knows what he’s doing.” said Collin Mathews, sophomore agricultural business major.
Jana McMillan, an outreach coordinator for the Brazos County Republican office, also talked about Staples’ background.
“It’s dear to our hearts since a lot of us grew up in the country and we have our personal interests in agriculture. So we like people to have an agricultural background,” McMillan said.
Staples talked about why it was important for students to read his book.
“There’s a great deal of misinformation coming from Washington today about what the real problems are,” Staples said.
Staples was re-elected to commissioner of agriculture in 2011 but is campaigning for lieutenant governor for 2014. Staples said he is excited about the future of Texas.
Proceeds from the book will be donated to help secure border law enforcement and reform immigration systems.