Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz contradicted Biden’s Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during a Congressional hearing on Wednesday, informing them that the federal government does not have operational control of the border.
Mayorkas, who Republicans have been looking to impeach, has repeatedly claimed the Biden administration has control of the southern border, despite a still-running crisis of record-breaking numbers of monthly illegal crossings since President Joe Biden took office. The flood is something red state Governors like Texas’s Greg Abbot and Florida’s Ron DeSantis have been attempting to mitigate and calling for reform for months.
Mayorkas, who Republicans have been looking to impeach, has repeatedly claimed the Biden administration has control of the southern border, despite a still-running crisis of record-breaking numbers of monthly illegal crossings since President Joe Biden took office. The flood is something red state Governors like Texas’s Greg Abbot and Florida’s Ron DeSantis have been attempting to mitigate and calling for reform for months.
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House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green asked Ortiz: “Does DHS have operational control of our entire border?”
Ortiz responded with a similarly blunt answer. “No, sir,” he replied.
"Does DHS have operational control of our entire border?"
U.S Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz: "No, sir." pic.twitter.com/8ssvTDrIRW
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 15, 2023
During the hearing, Ortiz took responsibility for controversial images in 2021 September 2021 that appeared to show border agents using whips to corral migrants at the border. The idea was misleading, and what looked like a whip was just the horse’s reins, but the controversy persisted. The officers didn’t whip anyone and were not even carrying whips, but Biden himself spread the misinterpretation of the images.
“To see people treated like they did, horses barely running over, people being strapped — it’s outrageous,” Biden told reporters, making a whipping motion with his hand. “I promise you, those people will pay. There will be an investigation underway now, and there will be consequences. There will be consequences.”
Ortiz backed the officers involved and insisted on the importance of the horseback unit.
“As a former horse patrol agent, I can attest to how vital horse patrol units are in responding to remote and harsh locations. Last year’s [sic] mass migration event in Del Rio was chaotic. We had over 20,000 people show up in one place in a short period of time. Even so, we were able to provide food, water and medical care without a single loss of life….I remain proud of the work of our horse patrol units and what we did in Del Rio,’ he added.”
Despite the success, Ortiz insisted that responsibility for the failure of optics and communications surrounding the photo falls upon him.
“As the chief of the border patrol, I am ultimately responsible for all operational decisions. To that point, and as a senior field commander during that response, I accepted and continue to accept full responsibility for the actions taken.”
The Biden administration eventually admitted the Border Patrol agents were falsely accused of ‘whipping’ Haitian migrants a year after the fact. However, according to Fox News, they still referred four agents for discipline concerning the viral clash.
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Ortiz also shed some light on the current situation on the southern border and reported 385,000 so-called ‘got-aways’ during Fiscal Year 2023. Got-aways are illegal border crossers who were not seen or caught by border patrol but spotted with other forms of surveillance. But even this number is low, Ortiz said that the actual number of those who crossed without being caught and apprehended is usually 10 to 20 percent higher than those spotted, putting the 385,000 number above 400,000.
What’s more, when asked, Ortiz admitted that Biden administration policies are to blame for the problems on the border.
WATCH: US Border Patrol Chief admits that Biden-Mayorkas policies are the cause of the current border crisis. pic.twitter.com/lH1JoNCRk6
— Rep. Dan Bishop (@RepDanBishop) March 15, 2023
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