Outgoing ICE director says Biden 'absolutely' should have acted sooner to tighten the border

Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director P.J. Lechleitner said in an interview that President Joe Biden should “absolutely” have acted sooner to tighten border security to reduce the flow of migrants into the United States. 

Lechleitner, who became acting director in July 2023 and is preparing to leave the job this week before the new administration brings in its own appointee, told NBC News on Wednesday that the number of incoming migrants meant his agency had to give staff to help Customs and Border Protection, leaving ICE unable “to do our own core mission adequately.” He also said he was not alone in feeling Biden should have moved faster. 

“I think the career people in DHS would have liked that,” he said. “And all of us in DHS, quite frankly, I don’t know if anybody in DHS wouldn’t have wanted that earlier.”

Lechleitner was referring to executive action Biden took last June to restrict people who crossed the border illegally from claiming asylum. By September, the monthly total of illegal border crossings had dropped to 54,000, the lowest since Biden took office. The drop brought the numbers in line with pre-pandemic Trump levels from the fall of 2019. And the numbers have continued to fall, with only 46,000 migrants crossing illegally in November. 

The change was so rapid that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott could no longer find migrants to fill buses to send to cities such as New York and Chicago as he had done earlier in the Biden administration.

Lechleitner’s opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the administration. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In an interview with USA Today published this week, Biden was asked if he had any regrets and he did not mention the southern border. Lechleitner says he’s not surprised that Biden has not identified the lack of action at the border as a regret.

 “It’s unfortunate because I think we could have done more,” he said. 

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Pressed for specifics, he added, “We could have put more resources to it, either at CBP, for the border itself, and with ICE. And we could have went and tried to get more of these individuals in the nondetained docket,” he said, referring to arrests of undocumented people outside of ICE custody. 

“We could have detained more people, and we could have removed more people. And I think we could use more resources and support. We could have done that in the last four years,” he said. 

Lechleitner has been with the Department of Homeland Security since its inception in 2003 and has served under both Republican and Democratic administrations. After being appointed acting ICE director last year, Lechleitner said that he had often asked for more resources for an agency that, according to him, was chronically underfunded. 

ICE has arrested and deported a little more than 47,000 migrants in fiscal year 2024. Lechleitner said ICE could not have deported any more than that using the same resources. “We’re burning hot,” he said. “We’re at maximum resource capacity. At this point, we’re going to need more money and resources to increase, and with more money and resources, we can increase detention, we can increase removal operations.”

Lechleitner also said he wishes that the Biden administration had been more transparent with the American public about immigration issues and that it had given his agency the freedom to be more vocal and public about its work and concerns, in part because more communication could have reduced misinformation.

“They should [have] allowed us more opportunity to explain what we’re doing and explain the hard work that ICE is doing and CBP is doing,” he said. “Let us talk. Let us demystify. Because, if not, people are going to just make their own stories up about what’s going on, and it’s going to be more problematic.”

According to Lechleitner, higher-ups prevented his team from doing monthly news conferences that were initially announced. 

“I don’t know exactly why they stopped,” he said, “but you know, we were only allowed to do so much.” 

Another source of frustration Lechleitner identified was cities that adhered to sanctuary policies under which they will not tell ICE when undocumented people are being released from jail. 

“It drives me nuts when our local and state partners, you know, won’t cooperate with us on some of these immigration issues,” he said. “It’s like, ‘Come on, man, these are public safety, national security threats. And why? Why can’t we just cooperate and just do this to protect the American public?’”

Lechleitner said he wishes the new administration well but cautioned that if it is serious about prioritizing the arrest of migrants with criminal backgrounds, it will be expensive and difficult. 

“The American people have spoken, and hopefully, knock on wood, we’re going to get a lot more support for the workforce to do our job in a more, you know, meaningful way. But we need resources. Give us more resources. Give us more personnel, give us more support, and we can do more.”