(The Center Square) – Retired San Diego Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent Aaron Heitke said he was instructed by the Biden administration to not publicize arrests of illegal border crossers identified as “Significant Interest Aliens” with ties to terrorism.
Heitke testified before a U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security hearing on Wednesday about how Biden-Harris “open border policies have undermined our safety and security.”
“We had an exponential increase in Significant Interest Aliens … with significant ties to terrorism,” illegally entering in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection San Diego Sector, he said.
Prior to the Biden-Harris administration, the sector averaged 10 to 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,” he said.
“These are only the ones we caught,” meaning the number likely is higher because of the volume of gotaways, those who illegally cross the border and are not apprehended.
“At the time, I was told I could not release any information on this increase in SIA’s or mention any of the arrests,” Heitke testified. “The administration was trying to convince the public that there was no threat at the border.”
His testimony came as the greatest number of individuals on the U.S. federal terrorist watch list have been apprehended under the Biden-Harris administration of 1,856 since fiscal 2021 through August, The Center Square reported.
None of this would have happened if current federal laws enacted by Congress were enforced, he said.
“The only true consequence we have to slow down and discourage people from coming to the United States illegally is sending them back to their country of origin,” required under current law, he said.
Under the Biden-Harris administration, Border Patrol agents were instructed to do the opposite, he said. In three and half years, “I saw a steady decrease in countries we could send people back to.
“For the first time in my 25 years and under five different administrations, whether through neglect or on purpose, I saw a large-scale lapse in our ability to return people to their country of origin. The inability to send people home meant that most people being arrested for illegal entry would either have to be detained or released.”
Since January 2021, “on day one,” the Biden-Harris administration “made a point of decreasing the amount of detention space available nationwide,” noting that Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s funding for detention space has steadily been cut and private detention eliminated.
The “open border policies” and “the fact that so many illegal aliens were being released into the United States spread worldwide very quickly,” he said, resulting in an unprecedented influx of illegal entry into the country.
“The impacts to me and my agents were significant. 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.”
The result was “80% to 90%, sometimes 100% of the agents on duty [were taken] away from” the southwest border. There were miles of the border unmanned in Texas, Arizona and California, he said, where there was “no agent presence for weeks and months at a time.”
Foreign nationals “who did not want to be caught could simply walk in,” he said, referring to gotaways. They total at least more than 2 million since fiscal 2021, The Center Square first reported.
“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.”
U.S. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-NY, then asked him, “What information do we have on the millions of known gotaways that have entered this country?”
“None,” Heitke replied.
“Zero information of millions of people – some of which have been found to be on the terror watchlist – we have zero information?” D’Esposito asked.
“Correct.”
Heitke was previously interviewed by the committee last year and described the level of national security threats that existed because they were forced to close checkpoints after an influx of illegal border crossers shifted to California. Agents were then required to shift manpower from the field to process and release into the country illegal border crossers, The Center Square reported. With their agents being pulled from the field, Heitke and others said Americans were unsafe and transnational criminal organizations were exploiting the open border to smuggle people and an unprecedented amount of fentanyl.
“Each time we asked for help in dealing with a new issue, it fell on deaf ears,” he said.
he was instructed by the Biden administration to not publicize arrests of illegal border crossers identified as “Significant Interest Aliens” with ties to terrorism.
How is this not treason…. and why haven’t they been imprisoned ?!? Lock these criminals up !
BECAUSE BIDEN RUNS the dept of justice…
GOOD LUCK EVER getting them to charge THEIR OWN.
It is most definitely Treason.
I believe it is still Obama and Susan Rice running the show. Old Commies never quit they just dim the lights and lead from a dark corner.
Max Daddy, Obama and Susan Rice may be running the show, but who is hidding behind the curtains and pulling their strings?
Lucifer?
Soros of course.. OR clinton!
Both president Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris have violated their oath of office and multiple U.S. Federal Laws. Why have they not been impeached? Why has Kamala Harris become the Democrat Party nomination for president when she has not received any nominating votes from the U.S. citizens? Both Biden and Harris should be charged with treason and violating the U.S. Constitution!
Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:— “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
BECAUSE the GOP IS filled with too many RINOS And cowards to ever call for an impeachment.
PatriotUSA, This country is being run by the rich 1%ers. They are criminals and should be locked up. Maybe, The Donald will gather them up and send them to GITMO?
Often Big Words only carry the burden of those who are too lazy to think for themselves. The test of understanding anything is always the ability to explain it. Enter Kamala who when tasked with solving the Problems at the border proved just too lazy to attempt it, unable to think out a real solution herself. She continuously to this day fails the test of a real understanding which to even the most intellectually confused, was to close the border and penalize/evict the lawbreakers. This so-called Prosecuting District attorney can’t understand basic American law 101. So the ONLY option Kamala leaves us, is to either think her too lazy, or she is just the corrupt puppet of a higher authority than nobody was given a chance to elect, because its obvious corruption is way too large, hence the desperate need to divert the voter’s attention via mindless Jabberwocky, Kamel-jocky, Word Salid venial vernacular double speak, that sounds like it might be something good but just covers the true evil intentions. On the film set of Gone with the wind, Everet Brown (Big Sam) whispered to Clark Gable to keep away from Olivia DeHavilland (Melonie Hamilton.) When asked why He said he heard she had body oder,,,”they keep telling me to call her Miss Smelly, Mis Smelly.” The correct words were Miss Melly short for Melanie. This is the kind of lazy smelly inane communication Kamala consistently lays upon WE THE PEOPLE
“Enter Kamala who when tasked with solving the Problems at the border proved just too lazy to attempt it, unable to think out a real solution herself.”
And not bright enough to secure wise, or even clever, council
WOULD she even recognize wise or clever council, LET ALONE Accept it, when offered?
Since Harris was put over the border, she needs to be Impeached. She took an oath to protect his country But she has allowed Terrorist Into the country If we have another 9/11That’s on That’s on her.
Why is it trump Putting this information On his campaign commercials Letting people know Harris allowed terrorist into the country.
“The administration was trying to convince the public that there was no threat at the border.”
The Biden-Harris-Obama-Rice administration has convinced a certain segment of the public that there is no threat at the border.
They suggest that we proceed unburdened by what “has been” (the cause of the chaos and violence purposefully inflicted on The United States) into their brilliant future that is sure to hold all the consequences.
EVEN IF we get attacked again, the media will STILL PUSH HER LIE that we’ve got nothing to worry about.
And unfortunately there’s plennty of useless idiots who will BUY IT!
Maybe during next POTUS cycle, more work can be done to get to root cause why these people willing to exit their own country. Perhaps repairs to relationships and financial arrangements will help.
Corrupt governments, centuries of cultured hopelessness. The lure of FREE STUFF.
Financial arrangements end up as either bail outs for corruption or labeled as “gentrification” or colonization, exploitation.
Nothing short of a Spiritual awakening, on a national scale, will change any of this.
We’ve been working on “ROOT CAUSES” For decades, sending BILLIONS IN “Aid” to those nations.
What makes you think that sending yet MORE will do a damn thing?
Our government has become the tool of one political party and that party is only concerned with power and control. With terrorists pouring into our country, it is only a matter of time before there is a major attack. Like 9-11 paved the way for the unconstitutional Patriot Act so will another attack give the government the opportunity to expand power. Make no mistake our federal government is not working for the people, and it will take a major overhaul of Washington, its agencies, and the Democrat ran bureaucracy to change that.