A former Border Patrol division chief told lawmakers he was blocked from informing the public about immigrants who may pose a potential terrorism threat because the Biden administration wanted to downplay the threat.
“San Diego saw a surge in foreign nationals of interest [SIAs]”These are foreign nationals with deep ties to terrorism,” former San Diego District Patrol Chief Aaron Heitke told lawmakers on the House Homeland Security Committee.
“Before this administration took office, the San Diego area averaged 10 to 15 SIAs per year. As word spreads that it's become much easier to cross the border, San Diego will conduct over 100 SIAs in 2022, well over 100 in 2023 and even more this year,” he warned. “And that's just the numbers we caught.”
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Migrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in Lukeville, Arizona, line up at a remote U.S. Border Patrol processing center on Dec. 7, 2023. (John Moore/Getty Images)
Heitke said he was told information about the increase could not be released.
“At the time, I was told I couldn't release information about the increase in SIAs or mention arrests. The administration was trying to convince the public that there was no threat at the border,” he said.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment on Heitke's remarks.
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The remarks were made as part of a House Homeland Security Committee hearing titled “A Nation Without Borders: How the Biden-Harris Open Border Policy Has Undermined Our Safety and Security.”
Immigration is a key issue in the 2024 election, with Republicans blaming Biden administration policies and the reversal of Trump-era policies for the crisis.
“We continue to watch as Biden and Harris refuse to do anything meaningful about this disaster, and you have to ask why? Why have they allowed this crisis to happen, why have they allowed it to continue,” Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) told the committee.
Heitke also told the committee that he releases “hundreds” of illegal immigrants every day and provides flights to send migrants from San Diego to Texas at about $150,000 a flight. He also testified that he had to close traffic checkpoints in San Diego to redirect resources to the border, and that those checkpoints are essential to cracking down on drugs like fentanyl.
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Migrants heading north towards the US border walk along a highway through Suchiate, Chiapas, southern Mexico, on July 21. (AP Photo/Edgar H. Clemente)
Democrats and the administration have accused Republicans of not supporting budget and reform bills, including a bipartisan Senate bill introduced this year, and argue that recent moves by the administration have helped reduce encounters at the border and protect border security.
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“You probably won't hear it from the other side, Border Encounter “Since the president's June 4 proclamation, we have seen our lowest levels in years, with encounters at the border and ports of entry down 55 percent and Border Patrol recording the lowest number of border encounters since September 2020,” Sen. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, said at the hearing.
