Former Border Patrol sector chief: Biden-Harris admin covered up rise in terrorism-linked migrants

Aaron Heitke, the recently retired chief Border Patrol agent for the San Diego sector, told members of the House Homeland Security Committee Wednesday that the Biden-Harris administration concealed information about illegal aliens with terrorism ties from the American public as part of its effort to "quiet the border-wide crisis."

"The administration was trying to convince the public that there was no threat at the border," Heitke testified, noting that this was the farthest thing from the truth.

In his opening statements, the former sector chief, who has served through five different administrations, remarked upon the flood of illegal aliens that occurred after President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took power and has been sustained in the years since.

Heitke indicated that the Biden-Harris administration immediately decreased the amount of detention space available and ordered the sectors to "take in and process all the illegal aliens encountered on the border."

Foreign nationals caught on quickly, realizing that this meant the Biden-Harris administration would set them loose in the American homeland.

""The fact that so many illegal aliens are being released into the United States spread worldwide very quickly," said Heitke, adding that Border Patrol was soon inundated with hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens keen to turn themselves in — many of whom were apparently flown to Texas.

According to the former sector chief, the immediate consequence of this surge was that 60%-90% and sometimes all of the agents on duty were pulled away from the border, leaving it virtually unguarded, such that "Border Patrol zones across Texas, Arizona, and California had no agent presence for weeks and months at a time."

As a result, those illegal aliens who didn't want to bother turning themselves in with millions of others could simply walk into the U.S., said Heitke, emphasizing, "We have no idea who and what entered our country over this time."

This alone was enough to jeopardize American security — as Patty Morin, mother of Rachel Morin, revealed in her testimony to the committee.

'They are allowing them into our smallest towns, and our people are dying.'

Rachel Morin was a Maryland mother of five who was brutally raped and murdered last year. Her suspected killer, who was arrested in June, is an El Salvadoran who illegally entered the U.S. in February 2023.

Following Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez's arrest, Harford County Sheriff Jeffery Gahler revealed that the suspect had fled to the U.S. after murdering a young woman the previous month. Just weeks after jumping the border, he savagely attacked a 9-year-old girl and her mother during a home invasion in Los Angeles.

Patty Morin told the committee, "They say that the borders are safe. We live 1,800 miles away from the southern border. They're not safe. They're not safe. Do you have a sanctuary city in your state? You're not safe."

"They are bringing criminals into our country. They are allowing them into our smallest towns, and our people are dying," added Morin.

Heitke noted that at the same time that illegal aliens like Martinez-Hernandez were stealing into the country, "simultaneously, in San Diego we had an exponential increase in Significant Interest Aliens. These are aliens with significant ties to terrorism."

During the Trump years, Heitke indicated that the San Diego sector averaged 10-15 SIAs per year. This number skyrocketed under the Democratic administration.

"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. These are only the ones we caught," said Heitke.

It's unclear how many of the millions of "gotaways" who have stolen into the country while Harris was border czar have ties to terrorists or are themselves terrorists.

"At the time, I was told I could not release any information on this increase in SIAs or mention any of the arrests. The administration was trying to convince the public that there was no threat at the border."

Rep. Anthony D'Esposito (R-N.Y.) asked the former sector chief what is known about the gotaways who have entered the U.S.

When Heitke responded, "None," D'Esposito said, "Zero information of millions of people — some of which have been found to be on the terror watch list — we have zero information?"

"Correct," answered Heitke.

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