The Scoop

Ex-ICE Acting Director Ron Vitiello Says Biden To Blame For Border Crisis

By • July 8, 2021 1:16 pm

The “root cause” of the ongoing border crisis, according to the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is President Joe Biden’s reversal of his predecessor’s immigration policies, and could not be found in the Northern Triangle countries.

Ron Vitiello  – who served under former President Donald Trump  – put the blame squarely on the Biden government and the Democratic chief executive’s reversal of the former administration’s border policies.

“Working with Guatemala, working with the Northern Triangle on governance and anti-corruption activities, that’s all well and good, but that’s not going to stop the surge that’s occurring on the border right now,” Vitiello told “Fox & Friends.”

“We’ve encouraged people to send or bring their children to the border and the root cause of the chaos is the reversal of the policies,” he added.

H​is comments came as Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Alejando Mayorkas traveled to Guatemala ​on Tuesday according to a DHS statement, to meet with his counterparts to discuss “shared priorities” – but most likely related to the border issue. 

Joe Biden started reversing former President Trump’s immigration and border policies within a few weeks since taking office. 

Among others, he ended the “Remain in Mexico” policy which keeps asylum seekers in Mexico as they await their turn for hearing before entering the US. He also created a task force to examine family separations at the border, promised a “pathway to citizenship” for illegal immigrants already inside the country and imposed a moratorium on deportations by  the ICE — actions that have prompted hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to stream into the country.

President Trump had already warned earlier that ending his policies on migration and border security would only encourage more illegal immigrants to swamp the country — calling it a “tidal wave of illegal immigration, a wave like you’ve never seen before.”

“They’re coming because they think that it’s a gravy train at the end,” the former Republican president said. 

The unprecedented surge of illegal crossings to the US — including thousands of unaccompanied minors — shortly after Biden took office has been overwhelming government resources at the border, leaving the Biden administration struggling to respond to the crisis. 

Vitiello told “Fox & Friends” that cartels are also benefiting from the ongoing chaos at the US-Mexico border.

“People who come up to the border and the people who are smuggled into the pipeline, they’re controlled by smugglers and cartels,” Vitiello said. “They’re the ones that are getting over because of this surge at the border.”

Biden appoints Kamala Harris

Biden’s initial response to address the border situation was to appoint Vice President​ Kamala Harris to lead the efforts of the White House to solve the border fiasco, but his VP didn’t visit the border until 94 days after she was tapped to lead the government’s response in March. 

“I’m glad to be here — it was always the plan to come here,” Harris said when she visited the border  on June 25.

Meanwhile, like Vitiello, critics of the Biden administration insist that the surge in migrants seeking asylum in the country soared since Biden’s inauguration on January 20 due to his softer tone on immigration.

Biden has earlier ringed a softer stance on border security and immigration in what many refer to as an “open border” policy — vowing to reverse many of President Trump’s policies which were meant to stem the inflow of immigrants to the country.

Steeve Strange

Steeve is the CEO & Co-Founder of The Scoop.
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