Biden border chief in hot seat over whether US-Mexico boundary is secure
Anna Giaritelli
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Republican lawmakers took full advantage of a rare chance to question the head of the Border Patrol during his first appearance before a House committee and pushed the chief repeatedly to come down hard on his superiors for understating the state of the border.
Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz walked a line between undermining Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who has stated the border is secure, and admitting the situation his 19,600 agents nationwide have faced over the past two years had been the most difficult time in the organization’s 99-year history.
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Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) opened the field hearing in South Texas with a video that showed Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) asking Mayorkas in a previous hearing if the border was “secure.” Mayorkas had stated it was.
“You heard the secretary. He said we have operational control. That’s the definition of operational control,” Green said and pointed to a poster board behind him that stated the legal definition of “operational control.”
“Based on the definition of the mission you have up, sir, up there, no,” Ortiz conceded.
“We don’t have operational control?” Green asked again.
“No, sir,” Ortiz said. “About 10 years ago, we used operational control as a measuring stick of our effectiveness along the Southwest border. My new strategy is geared towards mission advantage.”
Later on, Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS) asked Ortiz whether the 2,000-mile boundary was secure or not secure. Ortiz gave a detailed answer and stated that some portions of the land border were better guarded than others.
“I have nine Southwest border sectors from San Diego to here, South Texas — Rio Grande Valley. Out of the nine Southwest border sectors, I feel like the men and women are doing a phenomenal job in four of them with respect to the amount of flow and the processing that we are encountering on a daily basis,” Ortiz said, without disclosing the locations. “Five of those Southwest border sectors are experiencing a higher level of flow than we have seen previously. And that creates some unique challenges for us.”
The number of illegal immigrant apprehensions by Border Patrol has declined from nearly 8,000 people per day in December, its highest point ever, to approximately 4,800 people apprehended daily, the chief testified. The decline followed the Biden administration’s decision in January not to allow immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to be released into the United States from the border as hundreds of thousands from those four countries have been under the Biden administration.
Border Patrol saw February arrests remain at the same level as the 128,000 in January, according to data provided to the Washington Examiner by a Department of Homeland Security official authorized to speak with media.
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The 128,000 monthly apprehensions by Border Patrol is still dramatically higher than the 20,000 to 50,000 apprehensions made each month over the past decade but down considerably from the peak months in 2021 and 2022.
CNN’s Chris Wallace asked Mayorkas in late February how he had determined that the border was in a secure state. Mayorkas mentioned the legal definition was based on whether one person could evade Border Patrol successfully.