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Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene sounded off on Wednesday about an alleged incident on the U.S.-Mexico border.
At a Home Homeland Safety Committee listening to in Texas, which Democrats boycotted and refused to attend, Greene requested U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz about an alleged explosive gadget discovered by Border Patrol brokers.
“Chief Ortiz, are you aware that there was an explosive device found by Border Patrol agents on January 17th in an area called No Man’s Land, and there’s surveillance of who put it there? And guess what? It wasn’t Americans; it was cartels. Are you aware of that?” Greene requested.
Ortiz declined to acknowledge the incident, citing labeled info.
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“I will tell you that some of this information that I receive, I receive in a confidential [sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF)], so I’m going to be a little hesitant of briefing what I know and what I don’t know with respect to some of those, an event like that,” he defined.
“I understand, Chief Ortiz, but I’m not going to be confidential because I think people deserve to know,” Greene declared. “Our Border Patrol agents should not be in those type of conditions where they are at risk of being blown to pieces by the cartels, who, by the way, are criminals, and they should be treated as such.”
“As a matter of fact, I’ve co-sponsored legislation to declare war on the cartels because they are definitely declaring war on us, the American people, and our Border Patrol agents, and I’ve had enough of it, and I know Americans have had enough of it,” she added.
“Now this was supposed to be a full committee. But as you can see, the Democrats are not here. They decided to not — to not show. Why? Well, they said coming here was just a political stunt. You tell me, taking a hearing to the point of the crisis for a firsthand view, are boycotting a hearing because you know we’re going to shine a light on the truth. Which of those is a political stunt? I’d say the political stunt are these empty chairs,” she continued.
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Each state is a border state.
In simply the final two years below the Biden Administration, fentanyl deaths in my district in Northwest Georgia have elevated over 350%.
Individuals are dying, and Democrats don’t even trouble to indicate up for work. pic.twitter.com/4yjAGeNp27
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) March 15, 2023
Throughout one other change, Ortiz testified that there have already been roughly 385,000 “known getaways” on the border for the reason that fiscal 12 months 2023 started.
Bishop: Thanks very a lot. And thanks, chief Ortiz for in your candor. I actually — you’re in a troublesome spot. OK. And — and I do know. I’ve a query for you. Suppose you that we’ve got 1.3 million gotaways that we all know of? What’s your estimate of the those that we don’t find out about that bought away?”
ORTIZ: “Thank you, Congressman Gimenez. Good to see you again, sir. I will tell you that the gotaway number is a number that for a long time was associated with art. It was our agents out there actually cutting swaths of country and using you know footprints as an indicator as to what we were seeing out there. That was our situational awareness. With the investments that this Congress has made into the Border Patrol, CBP as a whole, we have greater situational awareness now than I’ve ever had. My confidence level on that gotaway number continues to increase. Is it 100 percent? No sir. 385,000 gotaways so far this fiscal year. We continue to refine that number. I’ve got to do a better job of accounting for the actual encounters.”
Bishop: “Chief — chief, I have — I have limited time. I just need a number. What percentage of the 1.3 that you know got away. How much more do you think got away you know — that you don’t know about?”
ORTIZ: “in my estimation based upon the situation awareness that I have probably be between 10 and 20 percent, sir.”
Bishop: “More?”
ORTIZ: “Yes.”
Bishop: “Thank you.”
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Final week, a federal choose in Florida delivered an enormous blow to President Joe Biden’s administration over its “catch and release” coverage, which allowed international nationals within the nation illegally to be launched into the U.S. as a substitute of deporting them.
Florida state Legal professional Normal Ashley Moody filed a lawsuit in opposition to the Biden administration over the “catch and release” coverage, arguing that this system is “illegal.”
A federal choose agreed.
Learn the complete article here