The Customs and Border Patrol needs much more support from the Biden administration, because, despite their great efforts, they simply do not have the ability to cover the entire southern border with the resources they have, Rep. Anthony D'Esposito told Newsmax on Monday.
The New York Republican, who recently visited the border with Mexico, said to Newsmax's "Wake Up America" that Border Patrol needs "support" and "manpower," emphasizing that "they are spread very thin. ... They just don't have the ability to cover every inch of that border.:
He added, "They have done a great job with what they have."
He said during his recent visit "we met as a team at the point of entry at El Paso. While we were getting a briefing by the Customs and Border Patrol agents," the visiting group received a lesson of how so much narcotics gets through the border. Although in this case the drugs were detected by dogs, that is not normally the case, D'Esposito said.
The congressman, who is a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, stressed that since just the beginning of the year, "we have close to 400,000 got-aways ... . That's 400,000 people that we don't know where they are. We don't know who they are, and we don't know what they're doing."
D'Esposito added that "this is just not about immigration. Immigration and protecting our border are two different things. What we need to focus on right now is get a handle on the front door of the United States of America."
He emphasized that "we need to know who is coming in the front door of the country and we need to give [Customs and Border Patrol] resources, and we need to give them the legal authority to do what they need to do."
Asked if Republicans in the House will manage to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, D'Esposito said "I think that he's going to have an interesting few weeks ahead, and I look forward to working with the Homeland Security Committee to hold him accountable for his dereliction of duty."
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.