Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz to testify before Homeland Security Committee in Texas
Anna Giaritelli
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The leader of the U.S. Border Patrol will testify in a public congressional hearing scheduled to take place Wednesday of next week in a South Texas border town, the Washington Examiner has learned.
Chief Raul Ortiz will appear before the House Homeland Security Committee during its visit to the Rio Grande Valley on March 15, a senior House GOP aide confirmed Thursday morning.
CARTEL ATTACK ON U.S. CITIZENS TOO CLOSE TO HOME, SAY TEXAS REPUBLICANS
Ortiz has rarely made public appearances as the nonpolitical official at the helm of the 20,000-agent organization, making this on-the-record testimony significant.
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Ortiz will have to walk a line between appeasing his superiors and his subordinates. Many Border Patrol agents are upset with the Biden administration for upending Trump-era policies that they largely viewed as being beneficial to border security.
He will also have to be mindful of the White House and Department of Homeland Security, who have declined over the past two years to call the record number of people apprehended at the southern border a “crisis.”