Vance was joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, as he took a helicopter tour of the area around Eagle Pass, Texas, around 150 miles southwest of San Antonio. They also visited a Border Patrol facility and sat for a roundtable with Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and national, state and local officials.
Vance pointed to arrests for illegal border crossings plummeting 39% in January from a month earlier.
“President Trump has empowered — and in fact demanded — that his whole government take the task of border control seriously,” Vance said.
The presence of Hegseth and Gabbard on the visit underscores how Trump is tasking agencies across the federal government with working to overhaul border and immigration policy, moving well beyond the Department of Homeland Security, the traditional home of most such functions.
“The border crisis has become a matter of national intelligence and it’s also become something that requires the Department of Defense to engage,” Vance said.
Gabbard blamed the Biden administration for the presence in the U.S. of people who crossed the border illegally and had possible ties to terrorists but were released into the country while they await immigration court proceedings.
“Who are they? What may they be plotting?" Gabbard asked. "This is just the beginning.”
