DNI Gabbard Reveals Little Known Fact About Trump’s Border Effort
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Saturday that the administration’s recent capture of a high-profile Mexican cartel leader demonstrates President Donald Trump’s “seriousness” and determination in confronting organized crime.
During an appearance on Fox & Friends Weekend, Gabbard confirmed the October 15 arrest of Sinaloa Cartel plaza boss Leonardo Daniel “El Pato” Martinez Vera, who is accused of orchestrating crimes including kidnapping and murder. The arrest, Gabbard’s office said, was made possible through intelligence gathered by the ODNI’s National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC).
When asked by co-host Griff Jenkins whether the operation sent a broader message, Gabbard said the arrest made clear to “the plaza bosses who have run our southern border under the Biden administration.”
“Yes, it’s very significant. This operation — I would love to tell you about how it was carried out,” Gabbard said. “Because our folks, who are working now without pay because of the Democrats’ government shutdown, worked tirelessly to get this guy arrested and behind bars, but also the public messaging that we did on behalf of President Trump shows his seriousness.”
Nearly all Senate Democrats voted Thursday afternoon to block legislation that would have provided temporary pay to certain federal employees and U.S. service members during the ongoing government shutdown, which entered its 25th day on Saturday.
“And this actually played an integral role in his [El Pato’s] continuing to be behind bars, because people are seeing President Trump is not messing around with this. If they try to resort to their own games of bribery and all of this other stuff, they then will be putting themselves in the target,” the DNI added.
“We will not allow cartel gangs who target Americans to roam freely, whether in the U.S. or across the border in Mexico. Our team at NCTC is on the watch, preparing for the moment to strike,” Gabbard noted in a Tuesday press release announcing El Pato’s arrest.
The State Department designated the Sinaloa Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in February 2025, alongside other major Latin American criminal networks, including MS-13 and Tren de Aragua (TdA).
Since President Donald Trump began his second term, illegal border crossings have dropped sharply from their record highs under the Biden administration.
Even Democratic Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, a frequent Trump critic, acknowledged during a Thursday appearance on Fox News that the situation at the southern border has markedly improved, saying, “We don’t have the problem that existed before with people coming across the border.”
In addition to Pritzker, left-wing “independent” Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont also praised Trump last week for his border security efforts.
During an appearance on The Tim Dillon Show, Sanders said Trump “did a better job” securing the border than President Biden and urged Democrats to refocus on stronger enforcement measures.
“So long as we have nation-states, you’ve got to have borders,” Sanders said. “If you don’t have any borders, then you don’t have a nation.”
“Trump did a better job,” Sanders admitted. “I don’t like Trump, you know, but we should have a secure border, and it ain’t that hard to do.”
The comments, which aired in Wednesday’s episode of the podcast and have since spread widely across X and YouTube, represent one of the sharpest public breaks between the Vermont independent and the party he caucuses with.
“Biden didn’t do it,” he added, going on to fault several administrations for failing to enforce border security and laws prohibiting illegal immigration.
“I’m not going to sit here and tell you that overall [Biden] did a good job — it was not,” Sanders said, per Fox News.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded 2.47 million migrant encounters in fiscal year 2023 — the highest number ever reported — compared with roughly 458,000 during President Trump’s final year in office, Fox noted.
