Too many people are losing their lives because of illegal immigration, either through violent crime or from the amount of fentanyl coming into the country, Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety told Newsmax Sunday.
But there was a stark difference to how President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump would resolve the issue, he said.
Trump, Olivarez told Newsmax's "Sunday Report," spoke out about victims who have been assaulted or killed by illegal immigrants, including speaking about Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, who was killed while on her college campus, yet Biden didn't mention her name.
An illegal immigrant, who had also been arrested and released in New York City, has been charged in Riley's death.
In addition to such violent acts, fentanyl continues to be a serious issue, said Olivarez.
"Many of these illegal immigrants that are in the country right now, many of these cities these states, these sanctuary cities, the states don't share crime data with the FBI, so there's probably more crimes that are being committed that we do not know of."
But there should be "zero crime" committed on anyone in the United States, he added.
"That would only happen if the federal government would step in and do their job and secure our border and allow Border Patrol agents more time to process these individuals properly so we're not just mass releasing anyone into the country," said Olivarez. "We're seeing this reality of the situation where many people are losing their lives in the hands of illegal immigrants that should not be in the country in the first place."
Olivarez and National Border Patrol Council President Art Del Cueto, also on the program Sunday, were with Trump on the border.
Del Cueto said Trump was at the border because he wanted to see what was happening there, while Biden went "because he has to" because of the election.
"He's done nothing for three years, nothing, absolutely nothing, and now he goes down there and he says 'Hey, we have to do something,' and he leaves after his photo shoot," he said. "We continue to release over 6,000 every single day into the country … this administration has completely lost track of all those individuals and they can't tell you where they're at and that's something that's going to harm this country for many, many years to come."
And, Del Cueto said, the Border Patrol is angry at Biden and the situation.
"We see that all they have to do is say, Hey, I'm claiming asylum," and they're released into the streets," but the Border Patrol ends up taking the blame, he added.
"It's the leadership that has failed the American public, and they have failed to step up and say something about it. The agents are very much upset."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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