Border Patrol Chief to Retire After Two Record-Shattering Years of Migrant Crossings

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz announced his intention to retire from the post as head of the United States Border Patrol effective June 30. Ortiz notified the nearly 20,000 active Border Patrol agents of his intentions in an agency-wide email earlier this week. Ortiz led the agency during the two busiest years for migrant encounters along the southwest border in the Border Patrol’s entire 99-year history.

In Tuesday’s message to rank-and-file Border Patrol agents, Ortiz said, “After a 32-year career spanning multiple Sectors, HQ tours, and overseas assignments in Afghanistan, I have decided to retire from Federal Service on June 30.  I have proudly served in the Armed Forces and across this country and enjoyed every opportunity I have had to work for and on behalf of the American people.”

Ortiz became chief of the Border Patrol in August 2021 following the retirement of Chief Rodney Scott. The Border Patrol reported more than 1.7 million migrant encounters for Fiscal Year 2021 which ended shortly after Ortiz took the helm. During the following year, migrant apprehensions rose to 2.3 million migrant encounters making it the busiest year for migrant apprehensions in the agency’s history. On May 28, the Border Patrol marked its 99-year anniversary.

Currently, the Border Patrol is reporting more than 1.4 million migrant encounters along the southwest border since the current fiscal year began in October 2022. The pace of migrant apprehensions in 2023 indicates the annual total for this fiscal year will likely equal or exceed that of FY22. Ortiz will depart the agency less than two months after the transition moving from the Trump-era Title 42 CDC COVID-19 migrant expulsion authority to the traditional Title 8 immigration authority.

Haitian migrants, part of a group of over 10,000 people staying in an encampment on the US side of the border, cross the Rio Grande to get food and water in Mexico, after another crossing point was closed near the Acuna Del Rio International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas on September 19, 2021. (Paul Ratje/AFP via Getty Images)

In September 2021, shortly after Ortiz took the position as the agency head, the largest single-mass-migration event along the southwest border in United States history took place directly into his hometown of Del Rio, Texas. During a span of several weeks, nearly 30,000 mostly Haitian migrants made landfall on the banks of the Rio Grande near the small border city. The mostly Haitian migrants erected crude structures in what resembled a shanty town under the Del Rio International Bridge to seek shelter from the sweltering Texas heat.

Haitian migrants set up camp along the Rio Grande in Del Rio, Texas. (U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz. (Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas))

Border Patrol agents from the local sector, along with local elected officials and law enforcement officers were left to address the crisis for more than two weeks without significant federal intervention. Upon the arrival of Ortiz and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, ports of entry into Mexico used by legal migrants and U.S. citizens to access the neighboring border town of Acuna, Mexico were shuttered leaving the border closed to legitimate cross-border traffic for nearly one week as the federal government moved the migrants to processing facilities across the entire southwest border.

At a press conference hastily set up near the encampment, Mayorkas assured reporters the border was closed. Mayorkas also told reporters he was surprised by the influx of migrants and that the “volume was rather sudden, rather dramatic, rather quick.”

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz deliver remarks at press conference in Del Rio, Texas. (Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas)

Ortiz also made assurances the migrants inhabiting the camp would be removed from the United States because of their illegal entry. It was later discovered that although 2,000 Haitian migrants were removed to Haiti in the aftermath of the incident, more than 12,000 Haitian migrants camped under the Del Rio International Bridge were subsequently released into the United States to pursue asylum claims.

Group of Haitian Migrants released into Del Rio to pursue asylum claims Sept 2021. (Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas)

During the subsequent months of Ortiz’s tenure, significant spikes in migrant entries plagued several border cities prompting Republican Governors Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis to bus migrants to sanctuary cities far from the border. The arrival of migrants to New York, Washington DC, Chicago, and other large cities prompted a backlash that continues to influence the immigration narrative nationwide.

Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol.  Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.