Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman has a plan for addressing the problem of criminal illegal immigrants in the U.S. -- that is, those immigrants who have been found guilty of one or more felonies besides his or her unlawful presence in the country.
And, of course, it involves bounty hunters.
Chapman laid out some of the details for The Christian Post’s Samantha Kamman in a multi-topic interview published Thursday, during which Kamman asked Chapman to expand on comments he'd previously made on Fox News.
"During the interview [on Fox], you said that the United States needs to start with 'the top of the echelon,' referring to migrants who are felons and have entered America illegally," Kamman asked. "What are some specific policies that you would like to see?"
Chapman, unsurprisingly, didn't mince words.
"We’ve got to hunt them down," he said.
"So we're going to have to get, you know, a group of bounty hunters like ex-marshals and CIA," Chapman explained. "Their retirement age is 51 and 52 years old, and they've still got a lot of life in them."
Chapman said that, because laws already "a citizen to arrest a felon," the first issue to be addressed would be how to pay for the program, which would have to come from Congress.
"We’d have to get the funding, of course," he said. "We got to do it one step at a time ... We'd have to get paid because you have to rent a car, have a hotel, or get an Airbnb, and you have to eat. You have to feed your family while you're out doing it."
That said, Chapman also said that he felt the time might be right for Congress to agree on a solution because immigration has become such a significant issue to many Americans.
"And it looks like Republicans and Democrats are coming together and saying, 'we have been woken up,'" he argued. "The country is always trying to make it seem like Republicans and Democrats are fighting all of the time [but] It isn't like what the media says.
"You know, once in a while, you catch them beefing, but it's like sports teams when they get playing each other. They don't like each other, but when the game is over, they're friends. And that's exactly how the Democrats and Republicans really are; they’re not fighting all the time."
"So, I think they get together, pass laws that give the bounty hunters -- or special guys, special agents, whatever they want to call it -- funding, and we’re on, we’re off to the races," he said.
One opinion Chapman was reluctant to express, however, was whether he believed the federal government would be more effective at dealing with illegal immigration under President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump.
Chapman invited his interviewer to check the numbers on illegal crossings during the last two administrations for herself.
"I mean, I try not to get into trouble," he explained. "I have a lot of Democrat and Republican friends, and each time you say something against them, you lose friends. And I’m in the business of making friends, not losing them, you know what I mean?
"But what’s obvious is obvious," he concluded.
