Retired Chief Border Patrol Agent Aaron Heitke knew what his orders were.
“I was told to move them out of the sight of the media,” Heitke said, referring to migrants at the southern border trying to reach the U.S.
Heitke testified to that before the House Homeland Security Committee. He also said the Biden-Harris administration tried to cover up the crisis at the border, the Washington Examiner reported.
Heitke retired last Summer as a patrol agent with the San Diego, California, region.
He testified on Wednesday, saying Biden’s administration would not allow him to speak with the media on certain matters involving the illegal immigration crisis.
“Each time we asked for help in dealing with a new issue, it fell on deaf ears. At times in San Diego, we had 2,000 or more aliens sitting in between the fences asking to turn themselves in,” Heitke said.
Heitke pointed to many instances when he believed the Biden-Harris administration intentionally tried to conceal how bad the situation was from the public. In January 2021, the Biden administration stopped deportations and put an end to an agreement that had asylum-seekers wait in Mexico and not released in the United States.
As such, Heitke said fewer illegal immigrants were being returned to their home country and were staying in the U.S.
“For the first time in my 25 years in under five different administrations, whether through neglect or on purpose, I saw a large-scale lapse in our ability to return people to their country of origin,” he said. “The inability to send people home meant that most people being arrested for illegal entry would either have to be detained or released.”
There was also a lack of housing for detaining immigrants due to cuts made by the administration. Space was reduced, leaving the inability to house as many migrants as before.
This lead them to be released into communities who could not support the influx.
They were then moved from San Diego to Texas on two flights a week at a price tag of $150,000 for each flight, per Heitke.
“This was the administration’s way to try and quiet the border-wide crisis,” Heitke said.
According to federal data, more than 5.3 million illegal immigrants had been allowed to remain in the U.S.
Word got out about the easy access, prompting more to come in 2022 and 2023, Heitke claimed.
Those flights eventually stopped, leaving migrants to remain in California.
“Border Patrol saw groups of hundreds and thousands coming into the United States and turning themselves in. These numbers pulled 80, 90, sometimes 100% of the agents on duty away from the border,” he said. “Border Patrol zones across Texas, Arizona, and California had no agent presence for weeks and months at a time. Those who did not want to be caught could simply walk in.”
When Trump was in office, agents intercepted 10 to 15 Special Interest Aliens a year.
Special Interest Aliens are tied to a nation with a terrorism or national security concern.
That number increased 10 fold in 2022 and even higher in 2023, Heitke said.
“At the time, I was told I could not release any information on this increase on SIAs or mention any of the arrests,” Heitke said. “The administration was trying to convince the public there was no threat at the border.”
