FIRST ON FOX: Republican members of the Texas congressional delegation are criticizing President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris after the former border patrol chief said he never heard from them while leading the government agency on the front lines of the immigration crisis.
“If you had called Chief Ortiz, or listened to any of our brave officers on the front lines, you would have heard what every Texan knows: this administration is directly responsible for the chaos and devastation plaguing our border states and the entire nation.” . House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital.
Raúl Ortiz served as head of Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) from August 2021 to May 2023, during which time the situation at the southern border first became a particularly thorny issue for the Biden administration.
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House Republicans are criticizing President Biden after his former border patrol chief said he never heard from the commander in chief during his tenure. (Getty Images)
In an interview with CBS' “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday, Ortiz accused the Biden administration of “definitely” sending mixed messages to migrants and said of his own relationship with Biden and Harris: “I've never had a conversation with the president or vice president.”
“I was the head of the Border Patrol. I had 21,000 people in charge. That's a problem,” he said.
Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas, said Biden should have had Ortiz “on speed dial.”
“It's common sense: talk to those who have boots on the ground, dealing with the crisis day in and day out. Now, it is clear to the American people that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have never cared about the crisis they have created in the southern border,” Weber told Fox News Digital.
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The former head of the United States Border Patrol, Raúl Ortiz, made the accusation during an interview on “60 Minutes” (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The number of illegal crossings at the southern border has risen to new highs year after year since 2021, when Biden took office. The president has called for reform of the US immigration system, which he called “broken,” and has asked Congress to pass comprehensive legislation.
Republican lawmakers, however, have insisted that Biden has the power to resolve the border crisis through executive action, arguing that his policies have led to its current state.
Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, called his lack of communication with his former border patrol chief “disappointing but not surprising.”
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Asylum-seeking migrants line up at a makeshift mountain camp to be processed after crossing the border into Mexico, Friday, Feb. 2, 2024, near Jacumba Hot Springs, California. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
“This failure illustrates the Biden Administration's lack of respect for our border patrol heroes and a lackluster attitude about the risk to national security at the southern border,” Pfluger told Fox News Digital.
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House Small Business Committee Chairman Roger Williams, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital: “This is just another example of the Biden administration ignoring the deadly invasion at our southern border and lying to the public. “Instead of working with those on the front lines, Biden continues to push open border amnesty policies that leave America last.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on Ortiz's claims and the resulting criticism from the House GOP.
