Border agents reveal illegal immigrants do not fear arrest, expect to be released into US under Biden

The revelations came during testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee in depositions with several border sector chiefs between May and September 2023, with the Daily Mail viewing transcripts of these depositions.

In May, Chief Patrol Agent Aaron Heitke from the San Diego Sector told investigators that the increase in illegal immigrants submitting themselves to authorities and not actively trying to avoid arrest is a "more recent phenomenon."

Another agent, Gloriza Chavez of the Rio Grande Valley Sector, affirmed Heitke’s comments, telling the committee in September that "a lot" of family units were being seen specifically turning themselves over to agents.

Chief Patrol Agent John Modlin, of the Tucson Sector in Arizona, told investigators in July that it is "not uncommon now to see a group of 200 to 300 people giving themselves up, and they’re doing it in some of the most remote areas."

Chief Patrol Agent Jason Owens of the Del Rio Sector told the committee in May that illegal immigrants are "predominantly turning themselves in."

These groups would sometimes get "in excess of 500 people" in his sector alone, where they would "wait for us to arrive" and be processed.

"There’s — for the majority of my career, I was chasing people that had crossed the border illegally. The phenomenon of having people turn themselves in, it’s happened, but not at the levels that I have been seeing in the last couple years."

Rep. Mark Green, who chairs the committee, told the Daily Mail, "Secretary Mayorkas’ policies encourage lawbreaking to such a degree that record numbers of illegal aliens are actually turning themselves in to Border Patrol agents, expecting to be released, rather than trying to escape across the border uncaught."

In the 2023 fiscal year, which ran from October 2022 to September 2023, a total of 2,475,669 encounters were recorded by CBP. This is up from the high seen in the 2022 fiscal year, with 2,378,944 encounters.

October, the beginning of the 2024 fiscal year, saw 240,988 encounters, around 9,000 more than the previous October, and 80,000 more than October 2021. October 2020, which occurred under the Trump administration and during the use of Title 42 to quickly expel illegal immigrants, saw just 71,929 encounters.