Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., said his recent trip to El Paso, Texas, demonstrated how cartels “are controlling the border” by a “tactical game” against overwhelmed Border Patrol.
The congressman, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, shared with Fox News Digital video he recorded from a helicopter ride over a stretch of the border wall. It showed a small group of migrants running from the wall and into a stretch of desert unchecked.
Another photo he snapped from the ground showed a hole cut in the base of a section of the wall.
“What we’re seeing here is that the cartel, especially those in Mexico, are the ones that are really controlling the border,” D’Esposito told Fox News Digital Monday. “They are playing a tactical game of moving people from different points of entry so that they are able to illegally have people enter this country at different points while all of our Customs and Border Patrol agents are tied up dealing with a large group of migrants.”
Through his conversations with Border Patrol members and local law enforcement on the ground, D’Esposito learned how the cartel “are utilizing certain points of entry,” sending large groups of some 10 to 40 people across at separate locations miles apart from each other.
Then as Border Patrol rush to those areas, he says cartels choose a middle ground to send people or drugs they want successfully smuggled into the country undetected.
“Since Joe Biden has been president of the United States, over 1.2 million people have entered into this country illegally,” D’Esposito said. “Those are 1.2 million people that we don’t know where they are. We don’t know what they’re doing. We don’t know who they’re with. They have the ability to carry illegal narcotics into this country, which is a plague on many of the communities that we live in.”
“This is not about denying people the American dream,” the congressman added. “It’s about having people reach the American dream the right way and do it so that we know who they are. We know where they’re going, we know what they’re about. And we know that they want to be here because they want to love this country, and they want everything that it has to offer.”
In addition to managing infrastructure problems, D’Esposito said Border Patrol is struggling to retain staff.
“They are constantly losing members to other federal agencies,” the congressman said. “People are leaving this job because they are not being treated correctly by the administration.”
While committee members were being briefed at the Port of Entry in El Paso, D’Esposito said they were notified that K-9 units detected illegal narcotics hidden under the floor of a vehicle.
House Homeland Security Committee members also visited an area known as Monument Three, where Texas, New Mexico and Mexico’s borders come together. D’Esposito said they heard stories of how illegal border crossings often interrupt the school and business days in their communities.
Rep. Anthony D’Esposito said Border Patrol K-9 officers detected illegal narcotics hidden in the floor of a vehicle at the El Paso Port of Entry. (Fox News Digital )
“We spoke to people on the ground who said throughout their day, while they’re trying to provide quality education to the kids that are attending this educational facility, they are interrupted numerous times a day because got-a-ways that get into the community, and they need to shut down their school,” he recalled. “There are many days that they’re unable to open the school until later on in the afternoon because they have got-a-ways that are roaming through the community. We spoke to a lot of business owners who, you know, their businesses are suffering at the hands of those entering into this nation illegally. Many businesses are also dealing with the wrath from the cartels as well.”
And according to the congressman, the cartel’s reach extends long after migrant crossings.
“What’s happening is the cartel is putting a price on crossing the border into the United States of America. And then when they successfully cross over and into this country, they’re changing their price to an inflated number,” he said. “So what happens is the people who are coming here can’t afford to pay the difference. So they’re basically owned by the cartel.”
“It’s a never-ending cycle that we’re dealing with,” the congressman added. “It’s affecting every industry, whether it’s local business, whether its schools or whether it’s the infrastructure. You know, the communities around El Paso are not super wealthy. We’ve seen that the justice system, the jail, the sheriffs, they just don’t have the ability or the resources to handle the influx of migrants coming.”
“We’re at the point now where the cartel is even willing for a price to help fill out paperwork on the Homeland Security app to get these individuals into the country,” D’Esposito said. “They’re being coached by the cartel of how to answer questions.”
On Monday, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., announced that he sent a letter to U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner Troy Miller requesting transcribed interviews with seven U.S. Border Patrol chief patrol agents currently responsible for managing critical sectors of the U.S. border. Comer said two chief patrol agents testified on Feb. 7 after Homeland Security had tried to prevent four other high-ranking agents from speaking to the committee.
“I think there is no doubt that Secretary Mayorkas and the immediate individuals that work underneath him are doing their best to try to control the narrative,” D’Esposito said. “I don’t know if they have the ability to control every one of those chiefs, but I have no doubt that they are doing their best to silence individuals who can see and have real life experiences to what’s happening on the border.”