(Texas Scorecard) – A now-former border official has come forward to members of Congress accusing the Biden-Harris administration of intentionally covering up the severity of the border crisis.
Retired San Diego Sector Chief Aaron Heitke testified before the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee that the Biden-Harris administration attempted to “quiet the border-wide crisis” by shielding information from the press and concealing crossings by illegal aliens who were tied to terrorists.
“I had to release illegal aliens by the hundreds each day into communities who could not support them,” said Heitke, who was responsible for securing nearly 1,000 miles of the border.
Heitke explained that the administration funded two flights a week to transport illegal aliens that would have been released into San Diego to Texas instead.
“Each flight costs approximately $150,000. This was the administration’s way of trying to quiet the border-wide crisis,” said Heitke.
Heitke also explained that administration officials asked him to move more than 2,000 apprehended illegal aliens “out of the sight of the media.”
He recounted that he was prohibited from discussing the high amount of border crossings from “Special Interest Aliens” suspected of posing national security concerns due to their country of origin or ties to terrorist groups.
Before the Biden-Harris administration, Heitke noted that the San Diego sector “averaged 10 to 15 SIA arrests per year;” however, since then, it has risen “to over 100 SIAs in 2022, well over that in 2023, and even more than that registered this year.”
“At the time, I was told I could not release any information on this increase in SIAs or mention any of the arrests,” he added. “The administration was trying to convince the public there was no threat at the border.”
On Friday, Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Lt. Chris Olivarez posted to X that DPS troopers encountered a group of 36 illegal immigrants in the Del Rio Sector. Troopers arrested 15 illegal aliens who were from Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and South Africa for criminal trespass. Among the group were also Special Interest Aliens from Turkey, Pakistan, India, and Vietnam.
Olivarez wrote in a separate post on Friday that in the last 48 hours, “DPS Troopers have come across 8 special interest immigrants from 5 different countries in the rural Normandy area.”
While troopers were completing screening and jail procedures, they received an alert from the Terrorist Screening Center regarding a male from South Africa, Umar Farooq Ashraf, who was said to potentially be the spouse or child of a known or suspected terrorist.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has not responded to a request for comment.
