U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz will retire from his career as a federal officer after serving in the U.S. government for three decades.

Ortiz made the official announcement in an email sent to staff on Tuesday.

“After a 32-year Border Patrol career spanning multiple Sectors, HQ tours, and overseas assignments in Afghanistan, I have decided to retire from federal service on June 30th,” he wrote. “I have proudly served in the Armed Forces and across this country and enjoyed every opportunity I have had to work for and on behalf of the American people.”

Ortiz wrote that he can retire “at ease, knowing we have a tremendous uniformed and professional workforce, strong relationships with our union partners, and outstanding leaders who will continue to tirelessly advocate for you each day.”

“Throughout the years, my level of commitment to the mission and our great nation has never wavered,” he added. “Serving as your Chief has been one of the greatest honors and privileges I have had and please know I will always champion this agency, its mission, and the people who make the Border Patrol everything that it is.”

The announcement comes after years of the unrelenting border crisis that President Joe Biden unleashed on the U.S. southern border with a reversal of Trump-era policies that encouraged millions of migrants to enter the U.S. illegally.

Ortiz testified to Congress earlier this year that the Department of Homeland Security does not have operational control of the U.S. southern border under Biden, a claim that is directly at odds with a statement from DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Ortiz made the remarks during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing in McAllen, Texas, in response to a question from Chairman Mark Green about security on the U.S.-Mexico border.

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“Does DHS have operational control of our entire border?” Green asked.

“No, sir,” Ortiz responded.

Behind Green was a poster board that showed that “operational control,” as defined by U.S. law, is “the prevention of all unlawful entries into the United States, including entries by terrorists, other unlawful aliens, instruments of terrorism, narcotics and other contraband.”

Green then played a video during the hearing showing Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) questioning Mayorkas last year over whether the U.S. had operational control of the southern border. “Yes, we do,” Mayorkas claimed. “Yes, we do.”

Green then asked Ortiz whether he thought Mayorkas was lying, to which Ortiz responded that operational control used to be how officials measured whether or not they were being successful. He said that their new strategy was “geared towards mission advantage.”

Ortiz again confirmed that DHS does not have operational control of the southern border, but, when pressed over whether Mayorkas was lying, Ortiz politely tried to sidestep the question in an apparent effort to not say anything negative about his boss.

🚨🚨: Border Patrol chief Raul Ortiz just told @RepMarkGreen that DHS *does not* have operational control of the southern border.

This is huge, because Secretary Mayorkas recently said DHS did have operational control. Huge admission. pic.twitter.com/rDezfonqST

— John Cooper (@thejcoop) March 15, 2023

Tara Reade, a former staffer for then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) who accused Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign of sexually assaulting her, has defected to Russia.

Reade made the announcement during a Russian state press conference while she sat next to Russian spy Maria Butina, who was previously convicted and sentenced to prison in the U.S. for conspiring to act as an agent of Russia inside the U.S.

“I’m still kind of in a daze a bit, but I feel very good,” Reade told Sputnik News. “I feel very surrounded by protection and safety. And I just really so appreciate Maria [Butina] and everyone who’s been giving me that at a time when it’s been very difficult to know if I’m safe or not.”

“I’m not going to be intimidated, bullied or silenced. I’m going to speak out and I’m willing to speak under oath about the corruption I witnessed, about the crime I experienced,” she claimed. “And it is remarkable that Joe Biden raped me when I worked for him at U.S. Congress and I’m supposed to be the fugitive. That is ridiculous and it’s unacceptable.”

Reade said that she was requesting that Russian President Vladimir Putin make her a citizen of the Russian Federation.

“I am going to make a request and it’s a large one: I’d like to apply for citizenship in Russia from the president of the Russian federation, Vladimir Putin, and hopefully Maria can help me from the State Duma,” Reade said, adding: “I do promise to be a good citizen and move forward with my life in a positive way.”

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During the press conference, Reade repeatedly took shots at the United States and spouted pro-Kremlin talking points.

Reade alleged during the 2020 presidential election that in 1993 then-Senator Biden forced himself on her while she was a staffer in a deserted hallway of a Senate building and penetrated her with his fingers. After being almost entirely ignored by the mainstream media for weeks, Reade’s allegation was finally addressed by The New York Times in a much-scrutinized examination of Reade’s allegation that Biden’s campaign initially portrayed as having exonerated him, but which the Times made clear in a strong rebuke of Biden’s camp had not.

Reade documented the alleged assault in late March 2020, saying that it happened when a supervisor instructed her to take a gym bag to Biden.

“I handed him the thing. He greeted me. He remembered my name. And then we were alone,” Reade said. “It was the strangest thing. There was no like exchange really. He just had me up against the wall. I was wearing like a skirt, a business skirt.”

“It happened all at once … his hands were on me and underneath my clothes,” Reade continued. “Yeah, and he went down my skirt but then up inside it, and he penetrated me with his fingers, and he was kissing me at the same time, and he was saying something to me. He said several things. I can’t remember everything he said.”