U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz admitted Wednesday at a special congressional hearing in Texas that the U.S. does not have “operational control” of the southern border, contrary to the Biden administration’s claims.

Ortiz testified before the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security during a field hearing in McAllen, Texas. The committee’s Democratic members boycotted the hearing — though Democrats traveled often to McAllen to protest the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy toward illegal migrants in 2018.

The empty seats where Democrats were to have sat were notable during the two-part hearing, which took place at South Texas College and featured both federal and local law enforcement officials as witnesses.

Committee chair Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) pressed Ortiz on whether the U.S. had “operational control” of the border, as Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas had previously testified before the committee.

Ortiz said, plainly, “No.” He would not, however, state directly that Mayorkas — to whom he reports in the department — had lied to Congress. Later in the hearing, Ortiz also admitted to Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS) that five of the nine southwest border sectors were not secure, contradicting claims by President Joe Biden.

While Ortiz said that he did not agree with the idea of building a border wall “from sea to shining sea,” he told Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK) that he disagreed with the Biden administration’s decision to stop building the wall that President Donald Trump had begun, and that it was a mistake to tear down existing wall infrastructure.

Ortiz also said the most damaging new policies had been the Biden administration’s “parole” system to make it easier for migrants to remain in the U.S., and the end of the “Remain in Mexico” policy for asylum applicants.

Throughout, Chief Ortiz praised the men and women of Border Patrol, saying that they were doing their best.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.