Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) blew the whistle on Democrat President Joe Biden’s debacle at the southern border during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing in Texas.
The Democrats boycotted the hearing.
Greene grilled U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz about an explosive device found by Border Patrol agents.
She said: “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?”
Ortiz said: “I will tell you that some of this information that I receive, I receive in a confidential SCIF (sensitive compartmented information facility) 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.”
Greene said: “I understand, Chief Ortiz, but I’m not going to be confidential because I think people deserve to know.
“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.
“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 said.
WATCH:
During another exchange with GOP Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC), Ortiz testified there have already been approximately 385,000 “known getaways” at the border since the fiscal year 2023 began.
“I have a question for you,” Bishop said to Ortiz.
“Suppose you that we have 1.3 million gotaways that we know of?
“What is your estimate of the people that we don’t know about that got away?”
Ortiz responded: “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,” Ortiz said.
“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 pressed Ortiz further, saying: “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.”
Every state is a border state.
In just the last two years under the Biden Administration, fentanyl deaths in my district in Northwest Georgia have increased over 350%.
Americans are dying, and Democrats don’t even bother to show up for work. pic.twitter.com/4yjAGeNp27
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) March 15, 2023
