The previous Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol instructed 60 Minutes that President Biden by no means spoke to him throughout his two years on the job. Neither did Vice President Kamala Harris, tapped because the administration’s “border czar” by President Biden in Might 2021.
Raul Ortiz served because the U.S. Chief of Border Patrol beneath President Biden and deputy chief beneath former President Trump earlier than retiring in Might 2023.
In an interview that aired Sunday, Ortiz excoriated politicians – Republicans and Democrats alike – who have interaction in media ops in a “two-mile stretch,” uncared for a whole bunch of miles of open borders.
However he expressed specific frustrations for the president, saying that in his two years in workplace, “I’ve by no means had one dialog with the president or vice chairman.”
“I used to be the chief of the Border Patrol, I commanded 21,000 individuals. That’s an issue,” he stated.
US BORDER PATROL SHOOTS, KILLS BANDIT ROBBING MIGRANTS IN CALIFORNIA
Ortiz stated the U.S. must ship a clearer message to Central and South America that they are going to be despatched again if they don’t have a reliable asylum declare.
Requested if he believed the White Home has despatched blended messages to migrants, he stated: “most positively.”
Ortiz presided over Border Patrol throughout a few of the most high-profile incidents, together with 15,000 Haitian migrants beneath the bridge in Del Rio, brokers being falsely accused of whipping, the top of Title 42 expulsions, and record-setting unlawful crossings.
Ortiz testified beneath oath in March 2023 throughout a Home area listening to in McAllen, Texas that the border will not be safe. He retired two months later.
His interview comes after Biden and Trump made dueling journeys to the southern border, underscoring how central the border is to the 2024 presidential election.