During a portion of an interview with the Fox News Channel aired on Friday’s broadcast of “Special Report,” Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz stated that the January border numbers represent a trend in the right direction, but there has been “a spike in Chinese nationals” and stated that the aerostats — whose numbers are being reduced by the Biden administration — are “certainly an advantage for us. And so, we’re going to try and do everything we can to fund those aerostats for as long as we can.”

Ortiz stated that the Border Patrol saw “a significant decrease in what we saw last year and we were also able to decrease the gotaway numbers significantly. So, those are the numbers that we want to trend in the right direction.”

Fox News National Correspondent Griff Jenkins then said, “You’ve got Chinese — a huge increase it appears across the border right now.”

Ortiz responded, “Yeah, we’ve seen a spike in Chinese nationals.”

Jenkins also asked, “You’re losing aerostats, the eyes in the sky. How much will that impact you and do you need those tools?”

Ortiz answered, “Any time we have technology out there, it provides us the situational awareness so we can be able to make those interdictions right on the border — in the immediate border area. It is certainly an advantage for us. And so, we’re going to try and do everything we can to fund those aerostats for as long as we can.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett