Former acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told Newsmax on Thursday that President Donald Trump has delivered a dramatic turnaround at the southern border after years of failure under former President Joe Biden.
"What the Trump team, President Trump and his administration have done on that border, has been extraordinary," Wolf said on Newsmax's "National Report," explaining that illegal crossings have dropped to near zero in some sectors, a sharp reversal from the mass migration that defined the Biden years.
During Biden's four years in office, he said, millions crossed the border illegally while Americans yearned for action.
"The American people were pleading with the Biden administration to stop the mass invasion," Wolf said.
"And you had President Biden saying, 'Well, I've done everything I can do. It's now up to Congress,'" he added.
According to Wolf, that claim never matched reality, as Biden already had the authority to act but refused to use it.
Wolf credited Trump's team with restoring order in a matter of months and sustaining it throughout the year, calling it a return to reality and sanity after a system that had spiraled out of control.
He said the administration is now focused on the harder task of removing those who entered the country illegally during the Biden years.
"The hard part is actually removing individuals that had come in under President Biden that shouldn't be here," Wolf said, adding that the cleanup effort could take years. He called Biden's record "the worst border crisis this country has ever experienced."
Wolf also pushed back on criticism from left-wing groups, including claims that the administration's use of military support along the border undermines the law.
"These left-wing organizations, whether they be think tanks or activists, liked what occurred under the Biden administration, and they want to see that open border," he said.
Wolf said attacks from groups such as the Brennan Center for Justice signal the administration is doing the right thing.
"When I hear something like that, that tells me the Trump administration is doing exactly the right thing," he said.
He pointed to concrete results, including the seizure of massive amounts of fentanyl and the deployment of Border Patrol agents back to frontline enforcement.
"During the Biden administration, about 80% of Border Patrol agents were in facilities processing migrants," Wolf said. "Today, all of those agents, because they have the support of the National Guard and the military, are out on those lines, keeping the American people safe."
Wolf said the turnaround comes down to leadership.
"President Trump came into office and said, 'We have a different way of securing this border, and we're going to move forward,'" he said.
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