In the first time border patrol agents have testified before U.S. lawmakers under the Biden administration, two sector chiefs on Tuesday gave their firsthand account of the surge in arrivals at the southwest perimeter, describing it as “overwhelming” and calling for a variety of resources and reform.

What You Need To Know

  • Two border sector chiefs on Tuesday gave their firsthand account of the surge in arrivals at the southwest perimeter, describing it as “overwhelming” and calling for a variety of resources and reform

  • It was the first time border agents had testified under the Biden administration; House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer, R-Ky., who called the hearing, said the Department of Homeland Security initially tried to block the two chief patrol agents from testifying but relented

  • While the situation at the border is indeed “overwhelming” and under-resourced, said Rio Grande Valley chief Gloria Chavez, she added that a balance between security and improvements to the immigration system is critical

  • Both chief agents said their priority for this year was gaining resources, calling border security a combination of personnel, technology and physical infrastructure

The chief patrol agents who oversee the Tucson and the Rio Grande Valley sections along the U.S-Mexico border told House lawmakers a combination of personnel, technical infrastructure and physical barriers were key to securing the border. Both supported the use of walls at the border, for example, while also acknowledging they are only useful in some strategic areas and in combination with other techniques. 

House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer, R-Ky., who called the hearing, said the Department of Homeland Security initially tried to block the two chief patrol agents from testifying but relented.

“This crisis has gotten worse every day over two years,” he said Tuesday. 

Since President Joe Biden became president, border agents have recorded historic numbers of crossings: more than 1.7 million in 2021 and 2.3 million in 2022.

While the situation at the border is indeed “overwhelming” and under-resourced, said Rio Grande Valley chief Gloria Chavez, she added that a balance between security and improvements to the immigration system is critical.

Chavez said the conversation has been much the same since she began her career shortly after 1995.

“We’re [still] talking about immigration, we’re still talking about border security,” she said. “We need to embrace change.”

Tucson sector chief John Modlin recounted how border crossings tripled in his sector from 2020 to 2021, after Biden took office, going from unprecedented to: “I don’t have the correct adjective to describe what’s going on.”

From speaking to people who attempted to cross, Modlin said the perception in early 2021 was that the border was “open” and that laws had changed under Biden, which was incorrect, he told Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa. 

“People start talking about asylum and it spreads,” he said. “The message they get is obviously not always the correct message, and they start migrating.”

Both chief agents said their priority for this year was gaining resources. 

Chavez, for example, said her agents are often preoccupied with rescuing migrants from unsafe situations south of the border and have to turn attention away from security and apprehension. Modlin said that in the region he oversees, single adult men cross one by one or in small groups, spreading out his agents and resources. 

And both agreed there was no one solution for border security but rather a necessary patchwork of people, technology and things like gates and walls. Modlin gave the example of fiber optic cable to track crossings along areas of the border without physical barriers.

Democrats on Tuesday pushed back on what they called Republicans’ villainization of migrants, many of whom are hoping to legally claim asylum based on a fear of returning to their home country.

“The majority has offered no clarity as to what their solutions are,” said the oversight committee's ranking chairman Jamie Raskin, D-Md. “Existence of the border is not in itself problematic … neither is immigration a problem.”

Asylum is a legal right under U.S. and international law, allowing someone to seek safety if they have credible fear of persecution in their home country because of their race, religion, political opinion or membership in a certain social group.

Rep. Melanie Stansbury, the Democrat who represents a New Mexico district near the border, said the border situation is a crisis but “truly a humanitarian crisis,” that is “manufactured, reproduced” by congressional inaction. 

The movement of people fleeing economic hardship, violence, climate change and other issues has increased worldwide in recent years, not just at the U.S. border. 

In a Tuesday memo, the White House spokesperson for oversight, Ian Sams, accused Republicans of holding the hearing for political reasons instead of to find solutions.

“Instead of working with President Biden and Democrats in Congress on legislation to actually address border issues and fix the immigration system, House Republicans are staging political stunts,” Sams wrote, pointing to changes Biden made last month that led to the lowest number of arrivals at the border in nearly two years.