Border Patrol Chief Expresses Serious Security Concerns- Illegal Immigrants Believe U.S. Border Is ‘Open’ Under Joe Biden
U.S. Customs and Border Protection chief patrol agents John Modlin and Gloria Chavez testified before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Tuesday.
“The thing I can tell you that goes to the spike that you’re talking about is in the Tucson sector, interviewing people post arrest, what became the most common response was that they believe that when the administration changed, the law changed and policy changed and that there was an open border,” Chief Modlin noted in response to a question from Florida Republican Congressman, Byron Donalds.
The fiscal year 2022 observed record-breaking illegal crossings at the southern border. CBP records indicate more than 2.3 million illegal immigrant encounters, with 250,000 encounters in December alone.
Chief Modlin noted in his opening remarks that most migrants crossing the U.S. through the Tucson region are single adult males and not families with small children, as many Democrats claim.
He noted that many of these migrants deliberately attempt to avoid detection by law enforcement as they are previously deported felons who pose a serious threat to local communities.
When asked about the possibility of foreign intelligence assets crossing into the U.S. by Arizona Republican Congressman, Paul Gosar, Modlin noted, “To speculate who could possibly be in the ‘gotaways,’ or the unknowns that we know, would just simply be speculation. All I can tell you is that it is a tremendous concern that anyone goes through the border undetected. But the reality is, we know there are people that are getting by.”
As per the CBP report, at least 98 individuals in fiscal year 2022 appeared on the terror watchlist. So far, in 2023, at least 53 suspected terrorists or associates of suspected terrorists were apprehended by the Border Patrol.
"Agents continue to face the most egregious of illicit trends," Chief Chavez described in her opening statement. "Such as criminal migrants, gang members, hard narcotics, firearms, currency outbound and, for example in one year’s time there were 1,000 drone incursions into 25,000 at the border drone detections demonstrating the capability of transnational criminal organizations pinpointing law.”
Compared to the U.S. Border Patrol, these organizations "have 17 times the number of drones, twice the amount of flight hours, and unlimited funding to grow their operations," Chavez told the committee.
This hearing was held after U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas made several attempts to block the Border Patrol chiefs from testifying. In response, committee chairman, James Comer threatened Mayorkas with subpoenas that would require the witnesses to testify.
Left with no options, Mayorkas finally had to allow the Border Patrol Chiefs to appear before the GOP-led committee.