Aaron Heitke officially took over as Chief Patrol Agent in the San Diego Sector of the border this week following his predecessor’s promotion to head the Border Patrol in Washington.
In December, Rodney Scott, a 27-year veteran of the patrol, was chosen as the next Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol.
Heitke joined the Border Patrol in 1998 and spent six years in the Yuma sector before moving to the Grand Forks Sector on the Canadian border in 2005. He has also served in Washington, and in 2019 joined the San Diego Sector.
He now manages more than 2,400 law enforcement agents and eight Border Patrol stations.
Heitke earned a bachelor’s degree in criminology at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. He also earned a juris doctorate at the University of North Dakota School of Law. He is a native of Minnesota.