President Joe Biden’s former border chief slammed the current administration’s border policies, telling CBS News’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday that neither the president nor the vice president spoke to him during his presidency.
Raul Ortiz oversaw Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from August 2021 until his retirement in June 2023 during a period when illegal immigration was at its highest level ever.
He said he feels the Biden administration is sending conflicting messages to migrants about whether they are welcome at the southern border.
“I’ve never had a conversation with the president. In fact, with the vice president. I was the head of the Border Patrol. I was in charge of 21,000 people. That’s the problem,” Ortiz said.
“We need to make sure that people in Central America, South America, Mexico and other places understand that they are paying smugglers to get through ports of entry and that if they don’t have a legitimate claim to some kind of asylum benefit, they will be deported.”
The White House did not respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment.
that’s all 7.6 million immigrants encountered An additional 1.7 million migrant “fugitives” are known to have been smuggled into the U.S. illegally under the Biden administration, evading crackdowns by Border Patrol agents on the southern border.
Ortiz also criticized efforts by Texas Governor Greg Abbott to curb the flow of illegal immigrants into the state by deploying additional barriers and ground troops across the state as part of “Operation Lone Star.”
He said Governor Abbott is not cooperating with the Border Patrol, adding that he feels the governor’s actions are politically motivated.
“When police agencies make decisions based on politics and media coverage, they put all their personnel on this two-mile stretch. What about the other 200 miles?” Ortiz said.
The Biden administration recently made last-minute policy changes to address the situation at the border, which officials say were motivated by the looming November election.
The Biden administration announced a new plan on May 16 to speed up the asylum review process for immigrants. Migrants’ cases will be heard in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City, and a decision on whether they can stay in the US will be made within 180 days.
Also, New Restrictions He called for asylum interviews at the southern border to more quickly remove immigrants who cannot prove they have a “credible fear” of returning to their home countries.
The president is also said to be considering limiting the number of people crossing the border to 4,000 per day, sources recently told The Washington Post.
