Bethany Blankley (The Center Square)
Aaron Heitke, a former chief patrol officer for the San Diego Border Patrol, said he was instructed by the Biden administration not to publicize arrests of illegal border crossers identified as “foreigners of concern” with ties to terrorism.
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Heitke testified Wednesday at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing about how Biden-Harris’ “open border policies have undermined our safety and security.”
“We have seen a sharp increase in the number of aliens of concern with significant terrorism ties entering the San Diego District of U.S. Customs and Border Protection illegally,” he said.
Prior to the Biden-Harris administration, the sector averaged 10 to 15 SIAs per year. “As word gets out that it’s become much easier to cross the border, we’re on track to see over 100 SIAs in San Diego in 2022, well over 100 in 2023 and even more this year,” he said.
“And that’s only who we caught,” he said, meaning the actual number is likely higher because of many fugitives — people who crossed the border illegally but have not been arrested.
“At the time, I was told I couldn’t release information about the increase in SIAs or mention any arrests,” Heitke testified. “The administration was trying to convince the public that there was no threat at the border.”
His testimony came as the number of people on U.S. federal terrorism watch lists arrested under the Biden-Harris administration through fiscal year 2021 reached 1,856. The Center Square Reported.
He said this wouldn’t have happened if current federal laws enacted by Congress were in place.
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“The only real thing we have to do to slow and stop illegal immigration into the United States is to deport them to their home countries, as required by current law,” he said.
Under the Biden-Harris administration, border agents have been instructed to do just the opposite, he said: Over the course of three and a half years, “we’ve seen a steady decline in the number of countries we can return to.”
“For the first time in 25 years and five administrations, I have seen, whether by neglect or design, a massive deficiency in our ability to return people to their home countries. The inability to return people to their home countries means that most people arrested for entering the country illegally are forced to either be detained or released.”
Since January 2021, “from day one,” the Biden-Harris administration has “focused on reducing the amount of detention space available across the country,” he noted, pointing out that funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention space has been steadily reduced and private detention centers have been eliminated.
He said news of the “open borders policy” and “the fact that so many illegal immigrants are being let into the United States” spread rapidly around the world, resulting in an unprecedented influx of illegal immigrants into the United States.
“The impact on me and my agents was significant. Sectors were ordered to receive and process all illegal immigrants encountered at the border. Border Patrol witnessed groups of hundreds, then thousands, crossing into the United States and turning themselves in.”
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The result was that “80 to 90 percent, sometimes 100 percent, of the agents on duty [were taken] He said he was “far removed” from the Southwest border, where there are miles of deserted areas on the border between Texas, Arizona and California “that haven’t had patrols there for weeks or months.”
“Foreigners who don’t want to be caught can just walk in,” he said of fugitives. Since fiscal year 2021, the total number of fugitives has exceeded at least 2 million, and for the first time, Center Square Reported.
“We have no idea who or what has entered our country during this time. In 2022-2023, I sent agents to Texas and Arizona to count fugitives. These departments could not even get enough agents out in the field to check on fugitives.”
Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito of New York then asked, “What information do you have about the millions of fugitives who have come into this country?”
“No,” Heitke replied.
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“We have zero information on millions of people, some of whom are on terrorist watch lists. Do we have zero information?” D’Esposito asked.
“correct.”
Heitke, in an interview with the committee last year, explained that the national security threat increased when the border crossings were forced to be closed after the influx of illegals shifted to California. Agents then had to move personnel away from the sites and process illegals and release them back into the country. ReportedHeitke and others say that by removing agents from the field, Americans are at risk and international criminal organizations are at risk. exploit They opened the border and smuggled in people and unprecedented amounts of fentanyl.
“Every time we asked for help to deal with new problems, they didn’t listen,” he said.
Distributed with permission From Centre Square.
