Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz testified under oath in a recorded deposition in Florida that Biden’s border policies have “no consequences” for illegal migrants. This has caused the unprecedented flood of illegal migrants at the border and the release of hundreds of thousands of them into the interior of the United States.

Ortiz’s deposition is part of the discovery process in a lawsuit by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody against the Department of Homeland Security and other border agencies. Fox News Digital obtained a video of Ortiz’s statements made on July 28. The lawsuit brought by Florida is set for trial in January 2023 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.

Ortiz has more than 31 years of experience in law enforcement. He told attorneys representing Florida that he believes illegal migration will increase at the southern border because there are no “consequences” in place to stop the flood of migrants coming across the border.

“So, it will increase at an exponential rate. Is that what is being suggested here?” the attorney pressed.

“Well, I do think it will increase, yeah,”​ ​Ortiz​ replied​.​

“​​In my experience, we have seen increases when there are no consequences,” Ortiz ​said in the July deposition​, which was obtained by Fox News Digital​. ​

A Florida state attorney​ then asked Ortiz whether more migrants would likely make the trip to the border because of the lack of consequences.

“There is an assumption that if migrant populations are told that there is a potential that they may be released, that, yes, you can see increases,” he answered.

Attorneys asked Ortiz if migrants had a favorable view of Trump’s border policies and he said no. When asked if migrants “illegally entering the United States perceive that they will be able to enter and remain in the United States” once Biden was elected president, he said yes.

The testimony came not long after DHS Secretary Mayorkas told attendees at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado that the border is closed. Perhaps Mayorkas thought he could get away with that lie because there is little media coverage of the Biden border crisis, which is a humanitarian crisis as well as a national security threat.

The Florida lawsuit focuses on a memo from the spring of 2021 that addressed Biden’s immigration policies. The memo states that “perceptions of favorable U.S. immigration policies” brought on the surge of migrants at the border. Other reasons for the surge include the pursuit of economic and educational opportunities. A memo from November 2021 titled “Alternatives to Detention” detailed the Biden administration’s implementation of a program for migrants coming across the border is also included in the lawsuit. The Florida attorney general is suing the administration for not following federal law on immigration.

Moody’s lawsuit charges that the agencies under Biden’s direction are failing to follow established federal law, the Immigration and Nationality Act, that requires officials to detain illegal aliens at the border until they are sent back to their country of citizenship.

Specifically, the Alternatives to Detention program, which was created by Congress in 2004 and has seen enrollments double under the Biden administration compared to previous administrations, uses various forms of case management and technology to monitor about 5% of the illegal immigrants who are on the “non-detained docket,” meaning that while they are in the country illegally, they are not in ICE detention. The tracking includes GPS monitoring via ankle bracelets, phone check-ins and smartphone apps.

Critics say the program doesn’t work because the illegal migrants just escape monitoring and disappear into the country. The program was reviewed during the Trump administration by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE concluded that the program has little value and noted the expense involved. It also found that the majority of illegal migrants enrolled in the program eventually fled into the country.

Despite the failures of the program, the Biden administration replaced and expanded the November 2021 memo to include family units and single adults from certain countries. They are being released without full processing and told to report to an ICE facility during a specific time period. Biden doubled down on a program already failing. The program was originally meant to be used sparingly and only when justified by an urgent humanitarian reason or address overcrowding. In past years, there was not the unprecedented number of illegal migrants flooding the border as there is now during the Biden administration.

Ortiz went on to testify that the border is less safe for Americans and illegal migrants alike. He agreed with the plaintiff attorney when asked if there are “unprecedented numbers” of migrants illegally entering the U.S. this year. Reports from Border Patrol show more than two million encounters this fiscal year. Last year’s historic 1.7 million encounters has already been topped. Florida Attorney General Moody wants the Border Patrol on the record about Biden’s use of catch-and-release, a policy he denies using at the border.

“After the Biden administration denied that they were engaged in catch-and-release, and that they were responsible for the historic surge at our southern border, Florida got the chief of Border Patrol to admit, under oath, the truth,” Moody told Fox News Digital.

“The Biden administration caused the surge, made the border less safe and is flagrantly violating the very federal laws they swore to uphold. The Biden administration is putting hard-working border patrol agents in impossible and untenable positions — risking their lives and safety, and I want to thank Chief Ortiz for testifying truthfully at his deposition,” Moody said.

Republican politicians want Ortiz to speak out.

In a deposition, the White House’s hand-picked border patrol chief said there are “no consequences” for illegals violating our borders.

Let’s see him stop covering for Biden and start telling the truth everywhere.

— Rep. Darrell Issa (@repdarrellissa) August 30, 2022

With or without Ortiz going public with criticism of Biden for his intentional border crisis, the fact is that Mayorkas and Biden have no intentions of securing the southern border. This is what they want. Chief Ortiz knows it.