‘It Was Unprecedented’: Retired Border Patrol Chief Blows Whistle On How Biden Admin Hid Migrant Crisis

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

“There was a gag order put on us literally within minutes of the Biden administration taking office”

Retired Border Patrol chief Rodney Scott blew the whistle to the Daily Caller News Foundation on how the Biden-Harris administration allegedly went to great lengths to hide the immigration crisis from the public, just days after a sector chief made similar claims.

Aaron Heitke, a former chief patrol agent for the Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector, testified before a House committee on Sept. 18 and claimed that the White House ordered agents to hide information on arrests of special interest aliens (SIAs), move masses of illegal migrants out of sight of the press and give other instructions to disguise the true level of the border crisis. Scott, who led Border Patrol from roughly the last year of the Trump administration to the first seven months of the Biden administration, told the DCNF he was given similar orders.

“There was a gag order put on us literally within minutes of the Biden administration taking office,” Scott told the DCNF.

“The chief of staff for Customs and Border Protection, when she arrived, one of her first orders was to forbid us from talking to the public, or doing press releases, or doing media without the White House clearing our statements,” Scott continued. “Not only were they not cleared, when they finally did give us talking points, they weren’t even accurate. They weren’t truthful.”

Scott’s tenure as Border Patrol leader overlapped with Vice President Kamala Harris’ assignment to address the root causes of illegal immigration from Central America. The retired chief confirmed to the DCNF that Harris never once spoke to him, even after her designation as “border czar.”

Having worked in Border Patrol since the early 1990s, Scott has experienced multiple changes in the administration. The longtime officer said higher-ups clamping down on communication to the public was nothing new, but the sheer level of control handed down by the Biden-Harris administration was nothing he had experienced before.

“No press conferences were approved, all border tours were shut down,” Scott said. “It was unprecedented. I’ve never seen a gag order that tight.”

Scott’s comments to the DCNF follow the testimony given by Heitke, where the former San Diego sector chief agent said he was prohibited from talking about the rising number of SIAs — migrants who potentially pose a national security risk to the U.S. — unlawfully crossing the border.

“Prior to this administration, the San Diego sector averaged 10–15 SIAs per year,” Heitke told the House Homeland Committee. “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. At the time, I was told I could not release any information on this increase in SIAs or mention any of the arrests,” he continued. “The administration was trying to convince the public that there was no threat at the border.”

Heitke also went into detail about the alleged steps the Biden-Harris administration would take to hide masses of migrants from reporters, accusing the White House of portraying “fiction” to the public.

“Each time we asked for help in dealing with a new issue, it fell on deaf ears,” Heitke said. “At times in San Diego, we had 2,000 or more aliens sitting in between the fences asking to turn themselves in. I was told to move them out of sight of the media.”

This is not the first time agents have accused the Biden-Harris administration of intentionally trying to cover up the extent of the border crisis from the media. Ahead of Harris’ first trip to the border in El Paso, Texas, in 2021, administration officials gave explicit instructions to clear the area of migrants in order to put on a “show” for the vice president, according to Border Patrol sources who spoke to the New York Post.

While an executive order issued by President Joe Biden in June led to a steady decline in illegal crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border in recent months, his administration had overseen a major wave of illegal immigration into the country after issuing a slate of executive orders that largely dismantled the Trump administration’s border agenda.

Border Patrol agents have encountered more than seven million migrants illegally crossing into the U.S. since the beginning of the Biden-Harris administration, according to the latest data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The massive wave of illegal migration has strained the resources of major sanctuary cities such as New York City and Chicago, but also smaller towns in the country’s heartland such as Springfield, Ohio.

Scott commended his former colleague for speaking out, noting that doing so puts his ability to make an income at risk. Many retired agents don’t speak out because companies and other private contractors that work with the federal government want to avoid the publicity that can come with working with or hiring whistleblowers, according to the retired Border Patrol chief.

“I think it’s very problematic that the administration is trying to hide so much relevant information from the public,” Scott said. “I’m very, very grateful that Chief Heitke stepped up and decided to share that information with the public because that really hurts his ability to get contract jobs in the future.”

“[Heitke is] not only taking a risk, he’s knowingly cutting his family’s income by standing up for what’s right,” he continued.

The Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.

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Published on January 20, 2025

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President Donald Trump issued an executive order Monday to remove the United States from the Paris Agreement.

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Trump has said in the past that the U.S. involvement in the Paris agreement harms America’s economic competitiveness and would not make a significant impact on the climate. He also said previously that the agreement was poorly negotiated and did not put American workers first.

The Biden administration implemented new emissions goals as part of its efforts to solidify its climate strategy. The Trump administration plans to deregulate the energy sector and roll back funding from Biden’s key climate initiatives. Since Nov. 5, members of Biden administration have distributed $1.6 billion in “environmental justice” grants, secured significant loans for green energy firms, empowered California regulators to influence the national auto market, and published a detailed analysis on the effects of liquefied natural gas exports, potentially hindering Trump’s efforts to expand them.

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Biden Pardons His Brother Jim And Other Family Members Just Moments Before Trump’s Swearing-In

Published on January 20, 2025

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From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Nick Pope

President Joe Biden pardoned his brothers and other family members on Monday just moments before President-elect Donald Trump’s swearing-in

Biden pardoned his brother Frank, his other brother James, James’ wife Sara Biden, his sister Valerie Owens and her husband, John Owens in one of his last acts as president. James was connected to Hunter Biden’s business dealings with overseas partners, while Frank Biden used Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration to promote his Florida law firm in connection with a lawsuit against sugar farmers and reportedly interrupted business meetings to speak on the phone with “the big guy” while working for a manufacturing company based in Illinois.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre attempted to spin President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter after months of claiming that he would not do so. pic.twitter.com/FpxQJ5m9gE

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) December 2, 2024

Monday’s last-minute pardons followed Joe Biden’s December 2024 decision to pardon his son Hunter — convicted on federal gun and tax charges in 2024 — for all crimes he may have committed going back to 2014. The pardons for the five other family members will also span back to 2014.

Despite the fact that Joe Biden’s Justice Department oversaw the investigations into Hunter Biden and congressional investigators proved that Biden family members and business associates profited from business deals with overseas oligarchs, Joe Biden said that his family was the victim of “the worst kind of partisan politics.”

“I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House. “But baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families. Even when individuals have done nothing wrong and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage their reputations and finances.”

“That is why I am exercising my power under the Constitution to pardon James B. Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John T. Owens, and Francis W. Biden,” the statement continues. “The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that they engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense.”

James Biden, along with Hunter Biden, were paid millions of dollars by a Chinese energy firm called CEFC to look to secure energy deals in the U.S., though those ventures never materialized, according to a former CEFC associate who testified to congressional investigators in January 2024.

Republican Kentucky Rep. James Comer, who spearheaded the House impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden, slammed the pardons in a Monday statement, saying that he believes the move indicates the Biden family is likely guilty of the corrupt and unsavory activity of which they have been accused.

“President Biden’s preemptive pardons for the Biden Crime Family serve as a confession of their corruption as they sold out the American people to enrich themselves. Our investigation revealed that at least ten members of the Biden Crime Family and their associates raked in over $30 million by selling Joe Biden’s influence to corrupt foreign entities and individuals in China, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and Kazakhstan,” Comer said. “The legacy media should be ashamed of themselves for covering up Joe Biden and his family’s abuse of power, corruption, and obstruction. The American people have seen through the legacy media’s coverup and the Bidens’ lies, and they know the truth: President Biden abused his public office to create a slush fund for his family.”

Prior to stepping in to protect his family members at the very end of his one term in office, Joe Biden also pardoned Anthony Fauci and other controversial figures before Trump was sworn in as president.