On Thursday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “Cuomo,” outgoing U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz stated that “we need to continue to build some wall” along the border and that the State Department needs to work “to instill some consequences for some of these demographics” that are crossing the border, or else, “we’re not going to be able to repatriate them.” He also called for increasing infrastructure and personnel along the border.
Ortiz said, “This month, projected, in June, we will have approximately 90,000 apprehensions. We haven’t seen a number that low since 2020. So, after May 11, everybody expected the border to be in total chaos. And what we saw was an incline up until May 11, and then the numbers started to drop. And, consistently, in a 24-hour period, our teams are apprehending about 3,300 people in a 24-hour period across the whole country. And so, I feel like we’ve got the border in as managed a state as we’ve had it in years. And so, if [at] any time after 32 years, I do think it’s a good time to pull the plug.”
He added, “One of the things I think we need to continue to invest in is infrastructure across the southwest border, technology, roads. In some areas, we need to continue to build some wall. But I also think that we need to make sure that we’re matching that with the right level of personnel. I’ve got roughly 3,000 [fewer] personnel than I had in 2013. That’s not a recipe for success. We need to have the right policies in place. We have migration from a slew of 173 different countries so far. And if our State Department and our partners aren’t working to instill some consequences for some of these demographics, we’re not going to be able to repatriate them. And they’re going to continue to come. This isn’t just a U.S. southwest border problem. We’re seeing traffic increases on the northern border in Vermont. We’re seeing it in Puerto Rico. We’re seeing it in southern Florida. And so, this continues to be a challenge for us. But I think we have to sit down — both sides of the aisle — and come up with a solution that allows us to manage the border in a way that — you’re always going to have migration…but it doesn’t have to be like it has been for the last few years.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett