The Biden administration's claims this week that the president has visited the U.S. southern border are "completely false," Texas Highway Patrol staff Lt. Christopher Olivarez said on Newsmax Saturday.
His comments to Newsmax's "Saturday Report" come after White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a daily press briefing Wednesday that President Joe Biden had visited the border, before pivoting to say that since he took office, he has been "taking action to fix our immigration system and secure our border."
"I'm not surprised, and we know those statements are completely false," Olivarez said. "They continue to lie to the American people. It is a primary responsibility for the government to secure our border."
Texas, meanwhile, is using its state resources and funding to combat the border crisis, without "any support whatsoever from the federal government," he added.
"For them to say that the border is secured and that the current leadership has visited the border, we know that's not true," Olivarez said. "One of the primary responsibilities is to visit with local residents, border communities, ranchers, property owners, and local officials to see what the concerns are and see how they could be addressed so we can fix the situation, but they have not done that."
Meanwhile, the end of Title 42 is coming this month, and Olivarez said officials expect the number of migrants coming across the border, which is now from 6,000 to 8,000 daily, to "double or triple."
He said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has deployed more National Guard troops to the border, along with armored vehicles, as "we expect there will be consistent groups of migrants coming across throughout the day. That's going to overwhelm even more resources and Border Patrol agents where they have to fill in those gaps along the border."
Olivarez also discussed House Republicans' plans to force out Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whether through his resigning or being impeached, and Olivarez agreed that there needs to be accountability and said the hearings must proceed.
"They have not put any strategy in place," he said. "They allowed the situation to get out of control where it's not sustainable. As of yesterday, there have been over 137,000 known got-aways as of Oct. 1, and 74,000 alone for the month of November … that's not being addressed."
And, he said whoever takes over Mayorkas' position must fix the border crisis and take responsibility.
"It's unacceptable, what we're seeing every day along the southern border," Olivarez said.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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