Rep. Rose Slams White House for Lack of Communication with Border Patrol

WASHINGTON, DC—U.S. Representative John Rose (TN-06) spoke on the House Floor Thursday to address a recent report indicating Former Chief of Border Patrol Raul Ortiz never spoke to either President Biden or Vice President Harris in the more than two years he served in the role.

The full remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below:

Mister Speaker, I was troubled to recently hear that the Former Chief of Border Patrol Raul Ortiz never spoke to either President Biden or the Vice President and so-called “Border Czar” Kamala Harris in the two years he headed up security at our southern border.

In a recent interview, Chief Ortiz said he never had a single conversation with either of them. He went on to say, quote, “that’s a problem,” given he commanded 21,000 border personnel. I’d argue it’s more than a problem. At the very least, it’s an indication that border security has never been a priority for our Commander in Chief.

It’s a bit like leaving a soldier on a battlefield, Mister Speaker. Because of the policies of the Biden Administration, Ortiz had to endure an unprecedented surge of illegal immigration month after month. In his two and a half years at the helm, there were more than five million illegal immigrant encounters and one and a half million gotaways. His patrolmen seized more than 50,000 pounds of fentanyl at the southern border by the time of his retirement at the end of June.

When asked about whether the White House was sending mixed messages to Mexico, Central America, and beyond, he said without hesitation, yes. That mixed messaging was heard loud and clear when President Biden was on the campaign trail in 2019 and said the United States could take another two million immigrants, quote, “in a heartbeat.” The message got even louder after he took office. In no time, he halted border wall construction and ended the successful Remain in Mexico asylum policy.

It’s also important to consider that Ortiz was at the helm when Title 42 was lifted, although he retired a little more than a month after. All the experts warned that an unprecedented surge in illegal immigration would follow if that authority were to be lifted. Nevertheless, the Biden Administration fought tirelessly for its end. Imagine overseeing the border and not getting a single call from those undoing years of border policy. Imagine the stress, staffing challenges, human trafficking and drug crime, all happening with the stroke of a pen and without your input.

Under the Biden Administration, we’ve seen an unprecedented abuse of parole authority, resulting in more than one million immigrants being allowed to enter the United States. The president clearly kept that 2019 campaign promise and it appears he kept his border officials in the dark in the process.

Ultimately, a phone call won’t solve this crisis. And we don’t need new immigration laws. We need a president willing to enforce existing law and one who will prioritize the men and women who protect our borders over those crossing them illegally.

You can watch the speech here.