The number of illegal immigrants held at the border has passed 32,000 for the first time in the Biden presidency, the latest evidence that the administration is more focused on catch-and-release policies than deportations.
New data revealed that facilities are holding 32,743, with most of those inside detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That is a 96% occupancy rate of the 34,000 beds Congress has authorized.
MCCONNELL HEALTH EPISODES LOOM OVER SENATE RETURN TO WASHINGTON
The numbers, provided by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, suggest that the administration has downplayed deportation and is processing illegal immigrants into the United States.
Last month, families crossing the Mexico-U.S. border hit a record high.
“Just because they are in custody/detained doesn’t mean they’re going to be removed under the current catch and release policies,” said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based immigration research institute.
She told Secrets Wednesday that in nearly filling all border beds, the administration is continuing its three-year process of dismantling Trump-era border control policies, a top issue in the upcoming presidential election.
“This is not a good report card for ICE under Biden leadership,” she said in an analysis of the data for Secrets.
“ICE is not using all of the 34,000-bed capacity that Congress appropriated, even in the midst of the worst mass illegal migration crisis in U.S. history. The numbers show that consistently about two-thirds of ICE’s detention capacity is for aliens arrested at the border, illustrating what a low priority it is for this administration to remove illegal aliens who make it into the country, even the criminals,” she added.
SEE THE LATEST POLITICAL NEWS AND BUZZ FROM WASHINGTON SECRETS
She suggested that the Border Patrol take over the facilities since most of those inside have been arrested by the agency and prioritize ICE on arresting and deporting illegal immigrants already in the U.S.
“ICE is doing less and less with taxpayer money than ever before. These numbers make the case for Congress to give the Border Patrol its own funding for detention centers for border arrests and let ICE focus on its core mission to find, detain, and remove illegal aliens inside the country,” Vaughan said.
