(NewsNation) — While testifying under oath in Florida, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz confirmed the U.S. was seeing a “crisis” at the southern border and an “unprecedented” number of migrants have tried to enter the country.
Ortiz’s comments came as part of deposition in a lawsuit brought on by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody against the Department of Homeland Security.
The DHS has recorded 550,000 “gotaways” at the border this year, signifying migrants that have been spotted, but not contacted while entering the United States.
Ortiz testified the number of migrants trying to cross into the U.S. has “increased” since Joe Biden was elected president.
“You want to make sure you have consequences,” Ortiz said. “In my experience, we have seen (an) increase (in migrants) when there are no consequences” for crossing the border without permission.
This has already been a record-setting year for migration at the southern border, pitting politicians against one another in Washington, D.C., as local governments clamor for the federal government to put forward comprehensive immigration reform.