CBP Chief Says Pack Your Bags or Get Dragged Out [WATCH]

The chief of the United States Border Patrol said there is no part of the country where individuals who are in the United States illegally are shielded from enforcement, emphasizing that immigration law is based on legal status and that agents are expanding operations beyond the southern border and into the interior of the country.

Chief Mike Banks made the remarks while outlining what he described as unprecedented control along the southern border and warning that individuals without legal status face arrest and deportation if they do not leave voluntarily.

“We’re the United States Border Patrol, and we will go anywhere in the United States and arrest those in this country illegally,” Banks said.

“There’s no such thing as sanctuary for immigration laws.”

Banks stressed that enforcement decisions are not based on geography or local policies but on whether an individual is lawfully present in the country.

“It’s about status,” he said.

“You’re either in this country legally or illegally.”

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According to Banks, gains in border security have allowed the agency to shift resources and attention inward, rather than concentrating solely on crossings at the southern border.

“And because we’ve gotten unprecedented levels of control on our southern border, record lows, record lows, it has allowed us to expand and move those operations into the internal part of the United States,” Banks said.

Border Patrol officials have pointed to declines in illegal crossings as evidence that enforcement strategies and policy changes have reduced pressure along the border.

Banks said those results are directly tied to the agency’s ability to increase interior enforcement efforts.

Banks also addressed individuals currently in the country without legal status, urging them to take advantage of options offered by the federal government to leave voluntarily rather than face arrest.

“And if you’re in this country illegally, you should take advantage of the many opportunities that the US government is providing you to self deport, to leave on your own in an attempt to come back in the right way,” Banks said.

He warned that those who do not take those steps should expect enforcement action.

“Or expect that someone from the United States Border Patrol will find you, arrest you and deport you,” Banks said.

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