Tipsheet

Border Patrol Chief Says He Disagrees With Biden Not Building Wall

The crisis at the southern border is still in full swing, despite what President Joe Biden wants you to believe. 

In 2021, Biden ordered the construction of the border wall to end early, allowing hundreds of thousands to storm the U.S. the president's open border policies couldn't stop them. 

During a Homeland Security Committee hearing, Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz disagreed with Biden's move to halt the much-needed construction, saying that infrastructure would help agents do their job.

"I do not believe in a wall from sea to shining sea, but I do believe in infrastructure and barrier systems in concentrated areas, especially urban areas," Ortiz said. "And it's always been our practice, from 2006 when I was an agent in charge in West Texas to now. But I also don't agree that we should tear down a perfectly good barrier system to install something based upon requirements that we developed over the last few years."

Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) asked Ortiz about the 200-plus miles of a border wall built under the Trump Administration, which the Biden Administration then tore down. 

Customs Border and Protection "tore down perfectly good infrastructure system in some areas that we should have just left alone," adding that Biden should never have done that. 

Ortiz criticized the Biden Administration for shutting down the Trump-era "Remain in Mexico" policy, which kept illegal migrants in Mexico for their hearings, saying he supports any policy allowing us to repatriate individuals back to their home countries."

The hearing is just a few instances proving Biden does not have a handle on the border. Ortiz confirmed that there have already been roughly 385,000 known gotaways at the border since the fiscal year 2023 began on Oct 1, in addition to the 600,000 in FY'22 and 390,000 in FY'21.