President Biden's acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says he wishes the president had taken executive action sooner as the migrant surge spirals out of control, saying he was slow to respond to the border crisis. He accused the government of
Acting ICE Director Patrick “PJ” Lechleitner, who spent more than 20 years at the Department of Homeland Security, joins “FOX & Friends” to talk about Biden's slow border action and the challenges the agency has faced under his leadership. , and discussed the hurdles faced by the staff. We will continue to face this under the Donald Trump administration.
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”I run and run an agency. I am forcing it and I don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner,” he said. “I know it's been done for a long time. I wanted to [have] I saw it before. I think it was very helpful. It really helped our mission, but I wish we had seen it sooner. ”
Biden announced long-awaited executive border measures in June 2024 to deter illegal immigrants from seeking asylum at the southern border if border crossings reach a certain level.
According to officials, the number of people encountered at the border exceeded an average of 2,500 per day over the past seven days, prompting an executive order to temporarily halt entry of non-citizens crossing the southern border.
Border Patrol agents pick up a group of asylum seekers from a relief camp on the U.S.-Mexico border near Sasabe, Arizona, Wednesday, March 13, 2024. In the first four months of fiscal year 2024, the Border Patrol recorded more than 250,000 refugees. According to the federal government, the Tucson, Arizona, area has the highest rate of migrant insecurity of any area patrolled by authorities. Government statistics, CBS reported. Photographer: Justin Hummel/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Justin Hummel/Getty Images)
The measures lasted 14 days after the number of encounters along the border averaged below 1,500 for seven days. Officials argued that this would make it easier for immigration officials to quickly deport individuals who have no legal basis to be in the United States.
Still, the number of encounters with illegal immigrants reached historic levels under the Biden administration, reaching 10.7 million, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.
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The number of terrorist watch list encounters also jumped by a whopping 3,500% under the Biden administration, in contrast to the Trump administration.
Rechleitner, who is scheduled to leave his post on Friday, will carry out the agency's “core mission” as the surge in illegal immigration reaches record levels and resources are reallocated to the border. He claimed that his abilities were being inhibited.
“We've been taken out of our core mission of supporting CBP, and we're always going to support it when we do that at the border,” he said.
“We're being pulled in to help the Secret Service. Thousands of agents have been pulled out of HSI to help the Secret Service. We have to do it because it's a national security priority, but the Secret Service… Services need more money. Give them more money.” [to] Do their job the right way and give CBP more money at the border so they can actually do their job and close the border a little better. But don't continue to pull us away from our core mission set, which is domestic enforcement against these fugitives. strategy team. ”
President Trump's next border czar, Thomas Homan, speaks at the Conservative National Convention on Monday, July 8, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Dominic Gwynne/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
“Currently, there are nearly 8 million people in custody and we must search them,” he continued. “This is a big challenge, but our people are capable.”
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Rechleitner reiterated the nonpartisan nature of law enforcement and warned against the “denigration” of law enforcement agencies that are simply there to enforce established laws.
“The new government has not yet taken office, but vandalism has already occurred in some offices,” Rechleitner said. “They … are spouting nonsense like abolishing ICE again. We're just doing our job. [a] My heart goes out to the vilification of public servants and first responders, and to the first responders in Los Angeles right now.”
“It's ridiculous that people vilify the first responders who are taking their own lives here and going out and helping their communities. And… people ignore it, they… demonize us. and slander,” he continued.
Rechleitner called on people who don't like current policies to talk to their elected representatives.
FOX News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
