I'll admit to being shocked by this, even if I shouldn't have been. Raul Ortiz served as the national chief of the US Border Patrol under President Biden, in an era defined by unprecedented, crisis-level illegal immigration. Federal agents have been overwhelmed and demoralized. They've been shamefully and falsely smeared by the president himself. And the man who led the agency tasked with controlling our borders has now told 60 Minutes that he never once had a single conversation with the president whose polices have opened these floodgates. Nor did he ever speak with the Vice President, who is supposedly the administration's 'Border Czar' and point person on the issue.
This is astounding, yet somehow unsurprising. It also represents a scandalous, overt dereliction of duty:
"I've never had one conversation with the president or the vice president for that matter… That's a problem,” says Raul Ortiz, the U.S. Border Patrol chief under President Biden until he retired last year. pic.twitter.com/bWoZkFbnVc
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) March 4, 2024
In short, the number of illegal migrants Joe Biden has personally seen at the border is the same as the number of conversations he had with his Border Patrol chief: Zero. No wonder Biden claimed that the catastrophe was under "control," and Harris asserted that the border is "secure." They cannot even pretend to care about the approximately ten million illegal crossings on their watch -- and even when they make a politically-motivated attempt to do so, their playacting is thoroughly unconvincing. Ortiz, perhaps to come across as even-handed and reasonable, also criticized Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in the interview, but it's worth noting that the Border Patrol Union has openly sided with Abbott's enforcement efforts over the Biden administration's ceaseless push to undermine and reduce enforcement. It's true that Abbott has played some politics during this crisis. He's done so out of necessity, and with an exceptional degree of success. Meanwhile, here is Biden's DHS Secretary doing his best to downplay the murder of University of Georgia student Laken Riley, allegedly by an illegal immigrant with multiple prior arrests on his record:
This is huge. Mayorkas is asked twice if Riley's killer should have been deported. Mayorkas evades, falling back on claim that "public threats" should be deported. But by Biden's own policy, the killer's previous crimes did not make him a "public threat" worthy of deportation. https://t.co/BMV2ZGiqJ8
— Conn Carroll (@conncarroll) March 4, 2024
He won't give a straight answer to the deportation-related questions because the truth is so damning for Biden policies, as well as for 'sanctuary' jurisdictions. He's also correct to say that the specific murderous actions are the sole responsibility of the murderer, but the slaying didn't happen in a vacuum. The only reason that man was walking free in Athens, Georgia to commit that horrific crime is because of a series of public policy decisions by "progressive" politicians. And the endless illegal crossings are surging yet again (these numbers don't include the many daily 'known got-aways'):
NEW: Per CBP sources, there were once again 7,000+ migrant encounters at the southern border yesterday, the 3rd day in a row of 7,000, putting us at 21k over the last 72 hrs. Still much lower than the highs of December, (10-11k per day), but moving out of Jan/Feb “slow” months.…
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) March 4, 2024
No wonder this president's approval rating on this issue is in the toilet. I'll leave you with this question, the response to which is comically inept and useless:
.@JacquiHeinrich calls the Biden administration's bluff on taking down razor wire in Texas:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 1, 2024
"You guys haven't touched it. Why is it still up?!" pic.twitter.com/uuW3tjuUfe