New information is shining a light on how few illegal aliens caught and released at the southern border, after promising to turn themselves into ICE once they arrive at their destination in the U.S., are actually showing up to surrender to authorities.
At best, less than 25% of illegal aliens who were released upon the agreement that they would surrender themselves to ICE upon reaching their destination in the U.S. actually show up to do so. According to data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and members of Congress, this means over 75% of illegal aliens released into the U.S. upon the condition that they turn themselves in - never do.
This is a damning statistic for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who continues to erroneously assure a “high rate” of compliance with the department’s new and disastrously ineffective catch-and-release program, which leaves little to no opportunity for ICE to track down no-shows.
Throughout any other time, aliens who made claims of protection after illegally crossing the border would be given a notice to appear, which is effectively a summons for a hearing before an immigration judge.
Throughout this ongoing surge, Border Patrol has been catching and releasing thousands of aliens without notices to appear. Instead, aliens were given notices to report to an ICE office within 60 days of arriving at their destination to collect notices to appear.
Jon Feere, who served as chief of staff at ICE during the Trump administration, explained the flawed process.
This outcome was entirely predictable, so it’s hard not to conclude that this is an intentional effort by the Biden administration to flood the United States with more illegal immigration.
Nevertheless, when confronted by Sen. James Lankford in a May 13 hearing of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Mr. Mayorkas assured senators that aliens were showing up for their hearings, exposing a budding pattern of the Secretary attempting to mislead Congress while under oath.
Senator Lankford confronted the Homeland Security Secretary with information from CBP officers “on the ground,” who told him that 19,000 aliens were caught and released without notices to appear by May 13, and asked the secretary how many were showing up to collect those notices.
Secretary Mayorkas responded vaguely:
I can get that number to you because we have seen a high rate. I should say that individuals who do not appear are a priority of ours for apprehension in the service of border security.
Two weeks later, testifying under oath to the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sec. Mayorkas was again pushed on alien appearance rates and echoed the same false narrative.
The appearance rate thus far, in terms of appearing at an ICE facility to report, has been very, very high, and I would be pleased to provide you with data.
Sen. Lankford later told The Washington Times that it “was either naive or intentional” to ask aliens to self-report to ICE, adding:
Secretary Mayorkas assured me that of the 19,000+ individuals in our country illegally, ICE is seeing a ‘high rate’ of illegal individuals turn themselves in to get a court date. However, the numbers show that 85 to 90 percent of those migrants are not even requesting a court date. They are simply disappearing into the interior of our country.
This policy ignores the obvious problems and sets up our nation for even more illegal immigration.
Rep. John Katko of New York, the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, added that he believes Homeland Security might have violated federal law by releasing the aliens without notices to appear.
According to the Washington Times, “CBP shows on its website that 79,000 migrants were caught and released in March, April and May, but a spokesman for the agency said they cannot publicly release the exact number released without notices to appear.”
Rep. Henry Cuellar said in mid-April that 15,300 aliens had been released without notices to appear. A Washington Times source said in early May that the number was 18,000. Sen. Lankford said on May 13 that the number he had been told was 19,000.
Taking Rep. Cuellar’s figure of 15,300, the 3,446 who did show would be a compliance rate of 23%. Using Sen. Lankford’s 19,000 figure would put the compliance rate at 18%.
“It’s also likely that some of those 3,446 arrived in May and June and showed up at ICE offices well before their 60-day deadline, so the number of people who arrived in March and April and checked in is bound to be lower than the 3,446 total ICE provided,” reports the Washington Times
“If you give them an NTA, they’re not showing up. If you don’t give them an NTA, they’re not showing up,” said Mark Morgan, who served as acting head of ICE and then CBP during the Trump administration, explaining the irrelevance of how many people were issued notices to appear and the importance of detaining all illegal border jumpers - including those who make asylum claims.
For the complete article, please visit the Washington Times.
