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.

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."