U.S. immigration agencies facing an illegal migrant border surge of up to 7,000 a day are deporting an average of just 100 daily, which a new audit calls “historically low numbers.”
New Immigration and Customs Enforcement data reviewed by the Federation for American Immigration Reform showed deportations under President Joe Biden are one-fifth the usual number.
The group, which supports strong border controls, said the skimpy deportations suggest the administration is essentially sidelining ICE’s key role of removing illegal immigrants — a goal of congressional progressives.
“For all intents and purposes, the Biden administration has implemented the radical left’s goal of abolishing ICE,” said Dan Stein, president of FAIR.
The numbers, which immigration groups have been waiting eagerly to see, showed that 55,590 deportable aliens were removed in fiscal 2021.
FAIR said half occurred in the last four months of the Trump administration.
“Thus, in the last eight months of the fiscal year, under President Biden, only about 27,000 illegal aliens were removed — barely 100 per day,” according to FAIR’s review.
Notably, the drop in deportations came as the administration lowered border protections put in place by Trump, encouraging more illegal immigrants than ever in U.S. history to rush the border. At one point, it was averaging 7,000 a day. Some 2 million illegal immigrants were “encountered” at the border last year, with many more getting through undetected, according to officials.
What’s more, the reduction came before Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas ordered cuts in deportations, suggesting removals in the current fiscal year will be even lower.
“The new data confirms what we already knew: President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas aren’t judiciously enforcing our immigration laws,” Stein said. “They are willfully and unilaterally nullifying those laws, in defiance of their sworn oaths of office. In doing so, they are compromising the health, safety and security of the American people.”
