The head of the U.S. Border Patrol on Wednesday told lawmakers the agency does not have operational control of the U.S. southern border -- as he also said that migration levels were at "crisis" levels in parts of the border.
Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz was speaking at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing in McAllen, Texas and was asked about Chairman Mark Green about Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ prior claims last year that the Department of Homeland Security has operational control of the border.
"Does DHS have operational control of our entire border."
"No sir," Ortiz responded.
Green held up a definition of operational control in the U.S. code as "the prevention of all unlawful entries into the United States, including entries by terrorists, other unlawful aliens, instruments of terrorism, narcotics and other contraband."