It’s not every day you see someone from inside the Biden administration openly criticize the president’s handling of, well, anything. But when the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) takes a public swing at Biden’s disastrous border policies, you know things are worse than they’re letting on.
Acting ICE Director P.J. Lechleitner didn’t just stop at a mild rebuke—he laid it all out in a Thursday interview with NBC News, exposing the chaos, incompetence, and missed opportunities that have defined Biden’s approach to the southern border.
When asked if Biden should have acted earlier to secure the border and stop the flood of illegal immigration, Lechleitner’s response was a blunt “Yes, yes, absolutely yes.” No hemming, no hawing—just a candid admission that the administration fumbled the ball. And he wasn’t alone in his frustration.
According to Lechleitner, career officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were practically begging for tighter controls while Biden fiddled. “Law enforcement is always going to be on that side,” he said. Translation: everyone with a shred of common sense knew the border needed serious attention, but Biden and his political appointees couldn’t—or wouldn’t—get it together.
It’s no wonder the acting ICE director sounded exasperated. Under Biden’s watch, the border has been an unmitigated disaster. The numbers speak for themselves: record-breaking crossings, overwhelmed Border Patrol agents, and millions of illegal aliens entering the country unchecked.
For months, the administration ignored the problem, downplayed it, or blamed someone else. Meanwhile, small border towns have been crushed under the weight of a humanitarian and logistical nightmare, and even Democrat-led cities like New York and Chicago have started to cry foul as migrants overwhelm their resources.
Lechleitner didn’t hold back when discussing the lack of resources and support for ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). He pointed out that the administration could have done much more over the past four years to address the crisis. “We could have tried to get more of these individuals who are in the non-detained docket and moved more people,” he explained, lamenting the lack of action. That’s a polite way of saying the administration has been asleep at the wheel while chaos unfolded.
Perhaps the most damning moment came when Lechleitner was asked about Biden’s recent interview, where the president was given the opportunity to reflect on his regrets. Not surprisingly, Biden didn’t mention the border. When NBC’s Julia Ainsley asked if that omission surprised him, Lechleitner’s response was a weary “No, but it is unfortunate.” It’s almost as if even Biden’s own appointees have given up on expecting leadership or accountability from this administration.
ICE Director Patrick Lechleitner blasts Biden for delaying action on the border:
“Yes, yes, absolutely yes, he should have. The administration should have taken that action earlier, and I think the career people in DHS would have liked that.” pic.twitter.com/T1Q7C45OGE
— Bobby LaValley (@Bobby_LaVallley) January 9, 2025
The reality is that Biden’s open-border policies have been a colossal failure, even by the low standards of his presidency. His refusal to address the crisis head-on, paired with his administration’s preference for optics over solutions, has left both border communities and law enforcement in the lurch. And now, even his own officials are admitting what Republicans have been saying all along: Biden dropped the ball, and Americans are paying the price.
Lechleitner’s candid remarks are a rare moment of truth from within an administration that seems more interested in dodging responsibility than fixing problems. But don’t expect Biden to change course anytime soon. If anything, his silence on the border crisis during his so-called exit interview speaks volumes about his priorities—or lack thereof. When even his own ICE director is throwing in the towel, you know the situation has gone from bad to catastrophic.
