(TJV) Jason Owens, the new head of the Border Patrol has warned that the agency is unable to protect Americans from “hardened criminals” smuggling in weapons, drugs and gang members because it is so overwhelmed with processing thousands of illegal immigrants every day.

A new influx of immigrants arrive at the U.S. southern border. @MattRiversABC has the latest on the spike.https://t.co/s5XgPCE3k0 pic.twitter.com/eELoyvDIpu

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) September 24, 2023

 Appearing on ABC News, Owens stated that the Border Patrol cannot lawfully send back people illegally trying to enter the country over the Southern border, and has to “enforce the laws that are on the books.”

“In terms of flow and the threats that we’re seeing with Fentanyl and with the criminal organizations that are our adversary, it’s about as bad as I’ve ever seen it,” Owens urged.

He continued, “This isn’t sustainable. This is up-and-down the system, everybody is overwhelmed. Even the government of Mexico, which have been great partners for us, the U.S. Border Patrol, a lot of times our facilities are already over capacity.”

The flood of illegal immigrants into the southern border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, last week was a distraction by drug cartels to divert law enforcement’s attention away from areas where they can smuggle drugs and weapons into the U.S., the chief of U.S. Border Patrol said.

“It’s a money-making opportunity for those smugglers, and I believe it’s a distraction from them to cross other things into the country,” Jason Owens, a 20-year veteran of the Border Patrol, who was named chief in June, told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “Narcotics, fentanyl, weapons, people of interest, whether it be hardened criminals and gang members, convicted sexual predators.”