{"id":2305437,"date":"2024-07-22T14:24:01","date_gmt":"2024-07-22T18:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/as-border-czar-harris-never-spoke-to-border-chiefs\/"},"modified":"2024-07-22T14:24:51","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T18:24:51","slug":"harris-as-border-czar-never-communicated-with-border-chiefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/harris-as-border-czar-never-communicated-with-border-chiefs\/","title":{"rendered":"Harris, as &#8216;Border Czar,&#8217; never communicated with border chiefs"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fharris-as-border-czar-never-communicated-with-border-chiefs%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2305437&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Vice\u200b President Kamala Harris,\u200d appointed\u2064 as the White House &#8220;border czar&#8221; three\u2062 years ago, \u2064has never spoken to the chiefs of the U.S. Border Patrol\u200b under the Biden administration.\u2064 This includes current \u200bChief Jason\u200c Owens and former Chief Raul Ortiz,\u2064 who disclosed that he never had a \u200dconversation with the president \u2064or\u2062 vice president during his tenure. The situation at the southern border has \u2063been described as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-national-security-threats-loom-and-government-agencies-arent-keeping-up\/\" title=\"Government agencies are falling behind as new national security threats emerge.\">national \u200bsecurity threat<\/a>, with more than 1.7 \u200bmillion &#8220;known\u200c got-aways&#8221; crossing illegally since \u2062Biden took\u2062 office. Harris has been criticized for her response to \u2064the border crisis,\u200d including her involvement in peddling a hoax\u2063 about federal agents &#8220;whipping&#8221; Haitian migrants. Emails later revealed\u2064 that the incident was\u2064 misrepresented, but officials continued to defend the\u200c controversy against the accused agents.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Vice President Kamala Harris never spoke to either chief of the U.S. Border Patrol under the Biden administration, despite the former California senator&rsquo;s appointment as the White House &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/04\/07\/two-weeks-since-being-named-border-czar-kamala-hasnt-visited\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">border czar<\/a>&rdquo; three years ago.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, NewsNation correspondent Ali Bradley wrote on X that Harris, who launched her bid for her party&rsquo;s presidential nomination Sunday, has yet to speak with Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens, &ldquo;who has been in the position for the last year.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>NEW: I just confirmed that VP\/Border Czar Kamala Harris has not talked with Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens, who has been in the position for the last year. <\/p>\n<p>The same goes for retired BP Chief Raul Ortiz who disclosed back in March that he never &ldquo;had one conversation&rdquo; with the&hellip;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&mdash; Ali Bradley (@AliBradleyTV) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AliBradleyTV\/status\/1815356961157718292?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 22, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Owens&rsquo; predecessor, Raul Ortiz, who led the law enforcement agency from 2021 to 2023, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/04\/ex-border-patrol-chief-says-biden-harris-never-once-called-him\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told <\/a>CBS in March that he &ldquo;never had one conversation with the president or the vice president&rdquo; during his tenure.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I was the chief of the Border Patrol; I commanded 21,000 people. That&rsquo;s a problem,&rdquo; Ortiz said on &ldquo;60 Minutes.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Harris was tasked with handling the administration&rsquo;s response to the southern border crisis <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/12\/16\/illegal-immigrant-caravans-back-on-the-way-biden-invited-them\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">re-ignited<\/a> by President Joe Biden&rsquo;s election in 2020. In March, Ortiz said that Biden was &ldquo;most definitely&rdquo; sending &ldquo;mixed messages&rdquo; to migrants who plan to cross the border.<\/p>\n<p>Owens also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/jason-owens-border-patrol-southern-border-national-security-threat\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> CBS News in a March interview the situation at the southern border has deteriorated into a &ldquo;national security threat.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s keeping me up at night is the 140,000 known got-aways,&rdquo; Owens said, in reference to migrants who&rsquo;ve crossed the border but evaded capture by law enforcement over the 2024 fiscal year. &ldquo;If we don&rsquo;t know who is coming into our country, and we don&rsquo;t know what their intent is, that is a threat and they&rsquo;re exploiting a vulnerability that&rsquo;s on our border right now.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong>[RELATED:[RELATED:<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/02\/05\/65-times-biden-gutted-border-security-since-taking-the-white-house\/#:~:text=%E2%80%9COn%20more%20than%2060%20occasions,infractions%20cited%20against%20the%20president.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">65 Times Biden Gutted Border Security Since Taking The White House<\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>More than 1.7 million &ldquo;known got-aways&rdquo; have illegally crossed the border since Biden took office, which &ldquo;is higher than the 1.4 million recorded in the entire decade from 2010 to 2020,&rdquo; the New York Post <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/05\/16\/us-news\/1-7-million-gotaways-have-sneaked-into-us-under-biden-data\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a> in May. When asked on the presidential debate stage in 2019 whether she believed lawmakers should <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/after-pledging-to-decriminalize-illegal-border-crossings-harris-will-lead-border-crisis-response\/\" title=\"After Pledging to Decriminalize Illegal Border Crossings, Harris Will Lead Border Crisis Response\">decriminalize illegal border crossings<\/a>, then-Sen. Harris raised her hand in the affirmative.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">FLASHBACK: Kamala raised her hand in favor of *decriminalizing* illegal border crossings <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VLcvvBQFmg\">pic.twitter.com\/VLcvvBQFmg<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; RNC Research (@RNCResearch) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RNCResearch\/status\/1815111759528968269?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 21, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>As vice president overseeing the disaster on the border, Harris participated in the administration&rsquo;s peddling of the hoax wherein federal agents were accused of &ldquo;whipping&rdquo; Haitian migrants who crossed the border in 2021. Viral images of agents using horse reigns as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kevin-mccarthy-demands-dhs-secretary-alejandro-mayorkas-resign-threatens-impeachment\/\" title=\"Kevin McCarthy Demands DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Resign, Threatens Impeachment\">common crowd control measure<\/a> to protect the horses and the bystanders were misinterpreted by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/09\/21\/democrats-spread-border-patrol-whip-lie-while-failing-to-address-growing-border-crisis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Democrats<\/a>&nbsp;and the corporate&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/joy-reid-border-patrol-whip-narrative\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">press<\/a>&nbsp;as &ldquo;whips&rdquo; being used to beat migrants.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;What I saw depicted about those individuals on horseback, treating human beings the way they were, is horrible. And I fully support what is happening right now, which is a thorough investigation into exactly what is going on there,&rdquo; Harris <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2021\/09\/21\/del-rio-haitian-migrants-border-patrol-harris-mayorkas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> when the images surfaced. &ldquo;But human beings should never be treated that way and I am deeply troubled by it.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who survived congressional impeachment proceedings this spring, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.presidency.ucsb.edu\/documents\/press-briefing-press-secretary-jen-psaki-and-secretary-homeland-security-alejandro-0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> in 2021 &ldquo;those images painfully conjured up the worst elements of our nation&rsquo;s ongoing battle against systemic racism.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The photographer who took the photo, however, had explained prior to Mayorkas taking the White House podium that no whips were used.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen them whip anyone,&rdquo; Paul Ratje told&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktsm.com\/local\/el-paso-news\/photographer-behind-controversial-photos-speaks-exclusively-to-ktsm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">KTSM<\/a>. &ldquo;He was swinging it, but it can be misconstrued when you&rsquo;re looking at the picture.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>When <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/10\/12\/mayorkas-knew-the-migrant-whipping-story-was-a-ruse-but-he-peddled-it-anyway\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pressed<\/a> on the photographer&rsquo;s contradictory testimony, Mayorkas dismissed the clarification.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The horses have long reins, and the image in the photograph that we all saw, and that horrified the nation, raised serious questions about what &hellip; occurred, and as I stated quite clearly, it conjured up images of what has occurred in the past,&rdquo; Mayorkas said.<\/p>\n<p>Emails revealed by the Heritage Foundation through the Freedom of Information Act in October 2022, however, show Mayorkas <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/10\/12\/mayorkas-knew-the-migrant-whipping-story-was-a-ruse-but-he-peddled-it-anyway\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">knew<\/a> the whipping debacle was another episode of fake news peddled by the Democrat elite before he defended the controversy against the agents accused.<\/p>\n<p>Mayorkas went on to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/news\/dhs-secretary-corrects-reporter-who-claimed-border-patrol-agents-whipped-migrants\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">correct<\/a> a reporter last December more than a year after peddling the hoax himself wherein the DHS secretary clarified from the White House press podium an &ldquo;investigation concluded that the whipping did not occur.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>Mayorkas corrects April Ryan when she brings up the &#8220;Haitians being whipped with the reins of the horses,&#8221; noting &#8220;the investigation concluded that the whipping did not occur.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ryan: &#8220;Maybe either the video or the picture was fixed but what I saw was totally different.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/sPLPRLMXAx\">pic.twitter.com\/sPLPRLMXAx<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&mdash; Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/justinbaragona\/status\/1656714711210000407?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 11, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The New York Post <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/05\/02\/us-news\/border-agent-falsely-accused-of-whipping-migrants-receives-award\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a> in May that one agent falsely accused of whipping migrants by the president himself was recognized with the Border Patrol Achievement Award for his intelligence work on human smuggling.<\/p>\n<p>Vice President Harris, however, never apologized for participating in the smear campaign against border agents by comparing the incident to &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/politics\/story\/2021-09-24\/kamala-harris-says-footage-of-border-patrol-on-horseback-evokes-images-of-american-slavery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">slavery<\/a>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux, a conservative newsletter on culture, health, and wellness. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com. Sign up for Tristan&#8217;s email newsletter <a href=\"https:\/\/socialjusticeredux.substack.com\/about\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vice President Kamala Harris, who was appointed as the White House &#8220;border czar&#8221; three years ago, has not spoken to either chief of the U.S. Border Patrol under the Biden administration. This includes Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens, who has been in the position for the last year, and his predecessor Raul Ortiz. Ortiz stated in a March interview that he never had a conversation with the president or vice president during his tenure. The situation at the southern border has been described as a national security threat, with over 1.7 million &#8220;known got-aways&#8221; crossing the border since Biden took office. Harris has also been criticized for her involvement in a hoax involving federal agents accused of &#8220;whipping&#8221; Haitian migrants in 2021. Despite evidence to the contrary, Harris and other officials continued to push the false narrative<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":2305438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Jason-Owens.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[35817,34478,4021,35818],"class_list":["post-2305437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-border-chiefs","tag-border-czar","tag-harris","tag-lack-of-communication"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Jason-Owens.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2305437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2305437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2305437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2305438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2305437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2305437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2305437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}