Former Border Patrol Chief Says Border Is Unprecedentedly Quiet
Raul Ortiz, who headed the Border Patrol under President Biden and was its deputy chief during President Donald Trump’s first term, said he had never seen the U.S.-Mexico border as quiet as it is now. An excerpt of his interview with CBS News was released on November 2.
Ortiz said the level of security now exceeds what he saw even after the September 11 attacks, when resources were sent to the border and airports. He credited current policies of returning people to their home countries and prosecuting them, saying that consequences make a difference.
He described the border situation during the Biden administration as chaotic. Ortiz said he initially thought officials were ignoring the situation, but later concluded that some were accepting the disorder because it served their agenda. He said that view applied to policymakers in the White House and to migration across the southwest border, including in Texas, California and Arizona.
Border Security Claims Shouldn’t Turn Ortiz’s Accusations Into Fact
Raul Ortiz’s assessment is striking: he said the U.S.-Mexico border is quieter than at any time in his experience, and argued that returns and prosecutions have helped produce that change. An interview excerpt released on November 2 captured the former Border Patrol chief’s praise for current policies.
But Ortiz went beyond describing conditions. He accused some Biden administration policymakers of embracing chaos because it served their agenda. That is his interpretation of their motives, not a demonstrated fact in the account of his remarks. His own description of the border as chaotic under Biden does not, by itself, establish that officials wanted a crisis.
Ortiz headed the Border Patrol under Biden and served as deputy chief during Trump’s first term. He said the security level on November 2, 2026, surpasses what he saw after the September 11 attacks, when resources were deployed to the border and airports. His comments put enforcement consequences at the center of the debate, while his sweeping charge about officials’ intent risks substituting accusation for evidence.
Former Border Patrol Chief Says Enforcement Made Border Quiet
A former Border Patrol chief says the border’s unprecedented quiet shows that enforcement consequences work. Raul Ortiz said in an interview excerpt released on November 2 that he has never seen the U.S.-Mexico border this secure, crediting the return of migrants to their home countries and prosecutions.
Ortiz said the security level now exceeds what he witnessed after the September 11 attacks, when resources were sent to the border and airports. His comparison underscores his argument that policies in place now are making a major difference—and contrasts them with policies he said were absent during the Biden administration.
Ortiz, who led the Border Patrol under Biden and served as deputy chief during Trump’s first term, also accused some Biden White House policymakers of embracing border chaos because it served their agenda. He said the disorder extended across the southwest border, including Texas, California and Arizona. His account sharply challenges those who would dismiss enforcement as ineffective: he says the consequences of returns and prosecutions are producing a border security level he has never before seen.
Reported by CBS News, Breitbart.
