Jason Owens, the new head of the Border Patrol, has warned that the agency is unable to protect Americans from “hardened criminals” smuggling in weapons, drugs and gang members because it is so overwhelmed with processing thousands of illegal immigrants every day.
Appearing on ABC News, Owens stated that the Border Patrol cannot lawfully send back people illegally trying to enter the country over the southern border, and has to “enforce the laws that are on the books.”
“In terms of flow and the threats that we’re seeing with Fentanyl and with the criminal organizations that are our adversaries, it’s about as bad as I’ve ever seen it,” Owens urged.
He continued, “This isn’t sustainable. This is an up-and-down system, everybody is overwhelmed. Even the government of Mexico, which have been a great partners for us, the U.S. Border Patrol, a lot of times our facilities are already over capacity.”
Watch:
House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner blasted the Biden administration Sunday, charging that they are “encouraging” unsustainable surges at the border.
The GOP Rep. said that “the manner in which they have — have provided assistance to migrants, not really communicating that our borders should be closed. Instead, encourage an open border policy.”
“You know, this is a national security and an economic security threat. On national security, we’ve seen individuals on the terrorist watch list be apprehended. We certainly see fentanyl and other drugs coming across the border. On economic security, you even have the mayor of New York saying that it’s destroying his city,” Turner added.
He added that “the Biden administration just in the last 10 days took action to give 200,000 Venezuelans temporary protective status, which includes that they cannot be deported and work privileges.”
“If we had the right policies, they wouldn’t be here. By providing them these — the open assistance, what you’re seeing is an encouragement for others to come,” he further asserted.
Watch:
Less than a quarter of American voters approve of Biden’s handling of the border, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll.
via unsilencednews