ICE chief's retirement: Biden should have acted 'earlier' on migrant surge.

The acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) chief criticized the administration for not taking action on the border crisis sooner, as the migrant surge worsened.

Patrick "PJ" Lechleitner, who spent over 20 years with the Department of Homeland Security, discussed his views on Biden's delayed border action, the difficulties the agency faced under his leadership, and the challenges agents will continue to face under Donald Trump on "FOX & Friends."

"I run the agency and execute. I enforce, but I don't know why they didn't do that earlier," he said. "I know it was in process for a long time. I would have liked to have seen it earlier. I think it helped a lot. It did really help our mission, but I wanted to see that earlier."

Biden declared long-awaited executive border actions in June 2024 to halt illegal immigrants from crossing the southern border and claiming asylum if the number of crossings exceeds a certain level.

Officials announced that the presidential proclamation temporarily halted non-citizen entry across the southern border when the average daily border encounters surpassed 2,500 over a seven-day period.

Officials maintained the policy until 14 days after the seven-day average of less than 1,500 encounters along the border. They argued that it would facilitate the removal of individuals who lack a legal right to remain in the United States.

Under the Biden administration, the number of illegal immigrant encounters reached a record high of 10.7 million, according to CBP data.

Under Biden's leadership, the number of terror watchlist encounters increased by 3,500%, compared to Trump's.

Since the surge in illegal immigration has reached record levels, Lechleitner, who is set to retire on Friday, argued that it stifled the agency's ability to perform its "core mission" because resources have been re-allocated to the border.

"We've been diverted from our primary objective to assist CBP. We will always be available to help at the border," he stated.

"We are also called upon to assist the Secret Service. Thousands of agents from HSI have been pulled to help them. However, it is a national security priority, but Secret Service requires more funding to perform their duties effectively. Additionally, more money should be allocated to the border to enable CBP to execute their responsibilities better and secure the border more effectively. However, we must not divert our resources from our primary mission, which is to enforce interior immigration laws for fugitive operations teams."

""Our people are capable of handling the big challenge of having almost 8 million people on the non-detained docket," he continued."

Lechleitner, who emphasized the non-partisan nature of the law enforcement agency, warned against the "demonization" of officers, who are merely enforcing existing laws.

"The new administration has not yet taken office, and some of our offices have already been vandalized," Lechleitner stated. "They're spraying 'abolish ICE' and other nonsense. We're simply doing our job. This is a vilification of public servants, first responders, and I sympathize with the first responders in L.A. right now."

"It's unbelievable that people criticize these brave first responders who risk their lives to help others, yet some disregard their efforts and demonize them," he said.

Lechleitner encouraged citizens dissatisfied with the current policy to communicate with their elected representatives.

Planet Chronicle' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.