Border Patrol Chief Admits Biden Official Wrong About 'Operational Control'

The U.S. Border Patrol chief made a statement on border security Wednesday that directly conflicts with a past assurance made by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

The House Committee on Homeland Security held a hearing in McAllen, Texas, in an effort by committee Republicans to show that "The crisis at the southwest border is a direct result of Secretary Mayorkas' failure to enforce the laws of our country.”

I'm at the Homeland Security Committee hearing at the US-Mexico border.

Border Patrol Chief Raúl Ortiz just stated that the United States DOES NOT have operational control at the southern border.

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz was one of five witnesses.

Committee Chairman Representative Mark Green, a Republican from Tennessee, asked Ortiz, "Does DHS have operational control of our entire border?".

As of last September, data compiled by U.S. Customs and Border Protection showed that the number of encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border was three times higher under President Joe Biden than it was under former President Donald Trump, with Biden's totals reaching nearly 189,000 per month compared to Trump's approximate 51,000 number.

They highlighted the second straight month of the lowest number of border crossings since February 2021.

Operational data from last month showed that individuals who entered the U.S. between ports of entry at the southwest border totaled 128,877-a nearly identical number to January's 128,913 encounters.

The Democrats' absence sends a message that they don't care, Green added, saying the party's members are in a "D.C. echo chamber" regarding the issue of border security.

The other four witnesses part of Wednesday's hearing included Steven Cagen, assistant director of Countering Transnational Organized Crime Homeland Security Investigations; Colonel Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety; Sheriff Brad Coe, of Kinney County, Texas; and Chris Cabrera, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council.

Newsweek reached out via email to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Representative Thompson for comment.