WASHINGTON, D.C. — This week, the House Committee on Homeland Security, led by Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN), held a hearing to examine how the policies and actions of the Biden-Harris administration sparked the unprecedented border crisis that began in early 2021, how the crisis has undermined safety and security, and how Biden and Harris’ open-borders and anti-enforcement policies have impacted DHS law enforcement. 
 
Witness testimony was provided by Aaron Heitke, retired chief patrol agent for the San Diego Sector; Patty Morin, mother of Rachel Morin, the mother of five who was tragically murdered in Maryland last year by an illegal alien who entered as a gotaway; and Jim Desmond, a member of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. The panel gave compelling testimony on the personal impacts of these disastrous policies.

In his opening statement, Chief Heitke unveiled the shocking revelation that Biden and Harris’ policies so overwhelmed the Border Patrol that upwards of 80-90% of agents were completely pulled away from the border to process and release historic numbers of border crossers: 
 
“Sectors were ordered to take in and process all the illegal aliens encountered on the border. The 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. 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. We have no idea who and what entered our country over this time. Throughout 2022 and 2023 I sent agents to Texas and Arizona to count gotaways. Those sectors could not even put enough agents in the field to see what they had missed.”
 
Heitke also dropped another bombshell, revealing that senior officials forced him and his fellow agents to keep quiet about the massive increase in crossings by illegal aliens with ties to terrorism: 
 
“Simultaneously, in San Diego we had an exponential increase in [Special] Interest Aliens (SIAs). These are aliens with significant ties to terrorism. Prior to this administration, the San Diego sector averaged 10-15 SIAs per year. Once word was out that the border was far easier to cross, San Diego went to over 100 SIAs in 2022, way over 100 SIAs in 2023 and more than that this year. These are only the ones we caught. At the time, I was told I could not release any information on this increase in SIA’s or mention any of the arrests. The administration was trying to convince the public that there was no threat at the border.”

In her opening statement, Morin described how the open border allowed her daughter’s killer in, and continues to put Americans across the country in danger:
 
“It took 10 months for them to find this suspect—the illegal immigrant. They used DNA because this man had attacked a nine-year-old and her mother in Los Angeles. If they had done the border protocols that were in place, but [were] set aside, of just a simple DNA swab, they would have known that he had an Interpol warrant for murder in his home country and that’s why he was fleeing to the United States. 
 
“They say that the borders are safe. We live 1,800 miles away from the Southern border. They’re not safe. They’re not safe. Do you have a sanctuary city in your state? You’re not safe. […] We’re not safe. And I just hope and pray that you will listen to what we have to say. I’m trying to make my statement as short as I can, so I don’t cry. Rachel was, when she was a little girl, she was like a little spitfire, tiny little redhead. As an adult, she was this vibrant, vivacious, outgoing person. Everybody just loved to know her. She was so compassionate and kind…She was a mom to five children. She was a businesswoman. She liked to exercise. She’s the American mom, and she’s not the only one in our cities that have been murdered.
 
“There was another murder by an illegal immigrant from El Salvador that happened a year before and that person just pleaded guilty to four murders, two rapes, and numerous other crimes. They are bringing criminals into our country. They are allowing them into our smallest towns and our people are dying.”

Desmond detailed the impacts of the border crisis on San Diego County:
 
“From September of 2023 to June of 2024, over 155,000 adults, predominantly males, between the ages of 18 to 35, who crossed our border illegally were bused and dropped onto the streets of San Diego County. That’s an average of almost 600 per day, seven days a week for nine months. 
 
“Our Border Patrol has been reduced to processing agents, standing by, watching people break our laws. One officer told me with deep frustration that his orders from the federal government were clear: Stand down, do not engage, just process. What’s more alarming is what my team saw later, [which] were dozens of Chinese nationals dragging luggage down dirt roads at night. And this is not an isolated incident. This is a daily reality in San Diego County. Border Patrol has become their Uber driver from the border into the city of San Diego, and San Diego County has become their nationwide travel agents at the taxpayers’ expense.”

In his opening line of questioning, Chairman Green asked Heitke to explain how the administration is working to hide the border crisis, to which Heitke answered:
  
“Groups were coming in to turn themselves over faster than we could keep up. We only had so much space. We keep people within our stations. There’s no other place to put them while they’re being processed, and they were building up. The media was showing them sitting in between the fences, and it looked bad. They wanted them moved. I had no place to put them and so—”
 
Chairman Green continued:
 
“Why would they want to hide that? Why would they want to spend a $150,000 to fly them to Texas to keep people from seeing the mass waves? Why?”
 
Heitke answered:
 
“It looks bad. When I asked about the flights to Texas, I was very specifically told ‘there’s a problem in Texas, there isn’t a problem in California.’” 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) described for Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway, the minority witness who made incendiary comments about the border wall and enforcement, how the administration’s scheme to incentivize inadmissible aliens to cross at ports of entry, rather than between:
 
“96 percent of the ones that come to ports of entry by making a handy dandy appointment on [the CBP One] app that the Biden administration has provided to anyone all over the world. We can carry on and talk about the other outrageous thing that helps maybe you feel peaceful at night as you and your wife walk along. People aren’t coming across maybe on your land because they’re able to go to ports of entry.
 
“Another way they’re able to get into our country is by flying in from other countries. 530,000 inadmissible aliens have flown directly into U.S. airports. Maybe that’s why you don’t see a giant flow across your land.”

Subcommittee on Emergency Management and Technology Chairman Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) asked Heitke about the security vulnerabilities created by the massive numbers of illegal aliens crossing our borders:
 
“And you mentioned in your statement, ‘Border Patrol zones across Texas, Arizona, California had no agent present for weeks and months at a time. Those who did not want to be caught could simply walk in. We have no idea who and what entered our country over this time. Throughout 2022 and 2023, I sent agents to Texas and Arizona to count gotaways. Those sectors could not even put agents in the field to see what they missed.’ What information do we have on the millions of known gotaways that have entered this country?”
 
Heitke answered:
 
“None.”
 
Rep. D’Esposito continued:
 
“Zero information of millions of people—some of which have been found to be on the terror watchlist—we have zero information?”
 
Heitke answered:
 
“Correct.” 

Rep. Dale Strong (R-AL) questioned Desmond about the financial cost of the crisis to San Diego County, to which he answered:
  
“I can tell you specifically the San Diego County itself, we spent $6 million to set up a migrant receiving center for those being dropped here, and we only had it open for four months because we ran out of money. And yes, that money could have been spent on our roads, infrastructure, and parks––but we also have our hospital systems. Many people come across the border, [and] they’re injured because of their long journey and I’m sure most of you have seen. […] YouTube videos of people dropping their children or their loved ones over the fence. Many people have broken limbs, things like that. So, we have many paramedic calls that actually go to the border. We also have fire calls. When people come over in the cold of night, they’ll burn just about anything they can get their hands on to stay warm. […] And also, just kind of the fear factor itself of people driving boats up onto our beaches and just walking unimpeded into our communities.”
 
“I don’t have an exact number, but I know it’s in the several millions of dollars that is costing our local taxpayers, and that money should be staying in San Diego County––not being spent on migrant and immigration issues. That’s the purview of the federal government.”
 
 

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