A former Border Patrol agent responsible for guarding nearly 1,000 miles of America's border has accused the Harris-Biden administration of intentionally covering up the ongoing migrant crisis.
Aaron Heydtke, a former chief agent in San Diego, told members of the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday that the White House repeatedly tried to “de-escalate a crisis across the border” by concealing information from the press and covering up dangerous migrant crossings with ties to terrorism.
“I had to release hundreds of illegal immigrants every day into communities that could not support them,” Heitke, who retired in the summer of 2023 and voluntarily appeared before the committee, testified.
“To quell the problem, two flights a week were operated from San Diego to Texas,” he explained. “These flights only transported the aliens to Texas who were to be released in San Diego.”
“Each flight costs about $150,000. This was the administration's way of trying to de-escalate a crisis along the border,” Heydtke emphasized.
In his testimony, Heitke said administration officials had asked for more than 2,000 migrants apprehended between two fences on the U.S.-Mexico border in Southern California to be moved “to a location out of the media's sight.”
The chief investigator was also barred from discussing the alarming surge in border crossings by so-called “special interest aliens” (SIAs), who are considered national security concerns based on their country of origin or ties to terrorist organizations.
Before Harris and Biden took office, the San Diego sector was “averaging 10 to 15 SIA arrests per year,” but “we're seeing more than 100 in 2022 and well above that in 2023, even higher than the number registered this year,” Heitke said.
“And that's just the people we caught,” he added, adding that there are more than 1.7 million “fugitives” who have entered the US without arrest, with unknown terrorist ties or dangers.
“At the time, I was told I couldn't release information about the increase in SIAs or mention any arrests,” he said. “The administration was trying to convince the public that there was no threat on the border.”
The testimony came a day after The Washington Post revealed that another former border patrol official, in a transcribed interview with the committee, claimed that Harris, Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had “intentionally” opened the U.S. border.
“I allege that Secretary Mayorkas and his political appointees have knowingly conspired and continue to conspire to undermine the safety of the American people and the letter and intent of our laws as enacted by Congress,” former Border Patrol chief Rodney Scott said in a January interview.
Scott said the administration is effectively telling Border Patrol agents “not to do their jobs,” a stark contrast to the policies of former presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama.
