Patrick Rechleitner, President Joe Biden's outgoing acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, acknowledged that the administration “could have done more” on immigration enforcement.
Rechleitner said in an interview Wednesday. NBC News This is what Biden should do.”absolutely” acted sooner to strengthen border security.
“We could have detained more people, we could have removed more people.”
He said ICE was unable to “fully fulfill its core mission” because it had to redeploy some of its staff to support Customs and Border Protection during the unprecedented crisis. he claimed.
He told NBC News that “career officials” within the Department of Homeland Security were “hoping” that Biden would take executive action sooner to address the situation.
“And I don't know if all of us at DHS, frankly, anyone at DHS didn't want it sooner,” Rechleitner said.
In June, Biden announced an executive order that his administration says will close the border if the number of encounters with illegal aliens reaches an average of 2,500 over a seven-day period. However, there are a few exceptions, including unaccompanied minors, those experiencing medical emergencies, “serious” human trafficking victims, and foreign nationals who have booked their asylum claims through the government's CBP One application. This included exceptions.
Rechleitner claimed that Biden's executive actions have reduced the number of border encounters to 54,000 per month. But he did not mention the numerous so-called “legal channels” his administration has deployed that allow waves of foreign nationals to enter the United States without increasing the number of people encountered at the border.
Rechleitner told NBC News that he was not surprised that Biden has not expressed regret for his actions at the border.
“It's disappointing because I think more could have been done,” he said. “We could have put more resources into it, either at CBP, at the border itself, at ICE. And we could have tried to put more of these people on the non-custodial record.”
As of July, ICE had more than 425,000 convicted criminal immigrants in its non-custodial records and more than 222,000 immigrants with pending criminal charges. In fiscal year 2024, the agency arrested and deported approximately 47,000 foreigners.
“We could have detained more people, we could have removed more people, and I think we could have used more resources and support. “It would have been,” Rechleitner continued.
He argued that ICE is under-resourced.
“We're fired up,” Rechleitner told NBC News. “We are at maximum resource capacity. At this point, the increase requires more funding and resources, and with more funding and resources, we will increase detentions and increase removal operations. You can.”
He also appeared to criticize the Biden administration for not being more transparent with the public about immigration issues.
“They should [have] “That gives us more of an opportunity to explain what we do and the hard work that ICE and CBP do,” he said. “Let's talk. Let's demystify it, because otherwise people will just make up their own stories about what's going on, which becomes more of a problem.”
Rechleitner claimed he was prevented from holding monthly press conferences regarding ICE operations.
He also expressed frustration with sanctuary policies that impede ICE's ability to locate and detain criminal illegal aliens.
“The American people are saying we're going to get more support for workers to do their jobs in a more meaningful way, and we're knocking on wood if we can, but we need resources. Give us more resources. Give us more people, give us more support, and we can do more,” he concluded.
Mr. Rechleitner, who has worked at DHS since its creation in 2003, became acting director of ICE in July 2023 and is currently preparing to step down at the end of Mr. Biden's term.
The White House did not respond to NBC News' request for comment.
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