Border Patrol Chief: ‘I Don’t Think We’re Doing Enough’ to Fight Cartels

During an interview with the Fox News Channel on Friday aired on Saturday’s broadcast of “Fox News Live,” outgoing Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said that the United States is not doing enough to combat Mexican drug cartels and argued that because the impact of the cartels hits nationally, “we’ve got to look at this as a national problem.”

Fox News National Correspondent Griff Jenkins asked, [relevant exchange begins around 5:35] “All Americans are aware of the threat that the Mexican cartels have, control of the drugs, the fentanyl, the human trafficking. Are we doing enough to combat cartels? And what’s your advice going forward?”

Ortiz responded, “No, certainly, I don’t think we’re doing enough. Criminal organizations, the Mexican cartels, they have deep pockets, they have no rules, and when they impact the border communities, the border states, they impact communities and states throughout this whole country. And so, we’ve got to look at this as a national problem. If we didn’t learn anything from 9/11, that we can’t do it alone, we have to work together. And I think, collectively, if we do that, we can take the fight to them and put them back on their heels.”