A former chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, Raul Ortiz, has told CBS News that the southern border now feels the quietest he has ever known in a long career spent watching it. Framing that stillness against the years of his predecessors' administration, he accused some officials of the earlier era of embracing chaos and crisis, a charge offered as his own judgment rather than documented fact. The claim is one man's experienced impression, and its weight will depend on whether the numbers that measure the border's rhythms bear it out.
Former Border Patrol Chief Ortiz Says Southern Border Is Quietest He Has Ever Seen
The quietest border he has ever seen
Mark
So what is Ortiz actually saying here?
Mimi
Two things. The border is the quietest he has ever seen, and some Biden administration officials were "embracing the chaos and crisis."
Mark
He used to run the Border Patrol, so that carries weight, doesn't it?
Mimi
It does. He has decades of firsthand familiarity with the border, and that gives his impression some authority.
Luke
Authority isn't evidence, though. All we have is one former official's description in a short video. No numbers are given.
Mark
Does the source say what changed?
Mimi
No. It doesn't offer a cause or a timeline for when things went quiet.
Luke
And the "embracing the chaos" line is an accusation with no names attached. We can't say who he means or what they did.
Mark
So what should a reader do with it?
Mimi
Treat it as a claim worth checking. Border encounter data is public and would show whether quiet is the right word.
Luke
Agreed. Until someone checks, it's his characterization, not a confirmed fact.
O Pulso
- A former Border Patrol chief describes the southern border as the quietest he has ever witnessed, a sharp turn from the years he associates with turmoil.
- His accusation that some Biden administration officials were 'embracing the chaos and crisis' lands as a direct charge in an already heated political contest over immigration.
- No names, dates, or specific policies are given, leaving the criticism hanging without the details that would let it be tested or answered.
- The assessment rests on a single voice in a brief video segment, with no crossing totals or official response yet attached to it.
- Readers are left to check the government's monthly encounter and apprehension data against recent peaks to see whether the quiet is real and how deep it runs.
A former chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, Raul Ortiz, has told CBS News that the southern border now feels the quietest he has ever known in a long career spent watching it. Framing that stillness against the years of his predecessors' administration, he accused some officials of the earlier era of embracing chaos and crisis, a charge offered as his own judgment rather than documented fact. The claim is one man's experienced impression, and its weight will depend on whether the numbers that measure the border's rhythms bear it out.
Raul Ortiz, who once led the U.S. Border Patrol, says the southern border has never been as quiet as it is now. In a video segment published by CBS News, he described the U.S.-Mexico line as the calmest he has seen across a long career in the agency.
He paired that picture with a pointed criticism of the previous administration, saying some officials there were "embracing the chaos and crisis" at the border. The phrase is his own, and the segment names no officials and points to no particular actions.
The segment is brief, and what it offers is a contrast between a turbulent border under the earlier administration and a quiet one today. Ortiz speaks with the weight of someone who held the job, yet he is a single voice offering a personal judgment rather than figures.
The piece carries no crossing totals, apprehension counts, comparison dates, or response from Biden administration officials. Words like "quietest" and "chaos" remain impressions until they are tied to numbers. Government monthly enforcement data would show whether recent months truly sit below the peaks of recent years, and by how much.
Raul Ortiz, who once led the U.S. Border Patrol, says the southern border has never been as quiet as it is now. In a video segment published by CBS News, he described the U.S.-Mexico line as the calmest he has seen, and he was speaking from a long career in the agency.
Ortiz paired that assessment with a pointed criticism of the previous administration. He said some officials in the Biden administration were "embracing the chaos and crisis" at the border. The phrase is his own characterization, and the source gives no names of the officials he means and no specific actions he is pointing to.
The segment is brief. What it offers is a contrast: a border Ortiz describes as turbulent under the earlier administration, and a border he now describes as at its quietest. He is a former chief of the Border Patrol, so he speaks with the weight of someone who held the job. He is also a single voice, and what he offers is a personal judgment rather than a set of figures.
The source does not include crossing totals, apprehension counts, dates for the comparison, or any response from Biden administration officials. It does not say what Ortiz believes accounts for the change, or whether the quiet he describes extends along the whole length of the border. Those gaps matter, because words like "quietest" and "chaos" are measures of impression until they are tied to numbers.
For readers who want to test the claim, the place to look is the government's own border enforcement data, which tracks encounters and apprehensions month by month. Comparing recent months against the peak periods of recent years would show whether Ortiz's description matches the record, and by how much.
Citações Notáveis
Some Biden administration officials were "embracing the chaos and crisis" at the southern border.— Raul Ortiz, former Border Patrol chief
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Politics & Governance