Since the beginning of the Biden administration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has deported less than 1% of migrants who were released after being caught at the border.

Since the beginning of the Biden administration, over 2.1 million unauthorized immigrants have been apprehended and subsequently released by Homeland Security at the southern border.

The House Judiciary Committee released a report on Monday disputing the government’s claim of promptly deporting the majority of people arriving at the border. According to the report, less than 1% of individuals have undergone an immigration court hearing and were actually deported.

Using Homeland Security’s own data, the committee delivered the most comprehensive look to date at the border chaos, examining who’s come, how many of them were released, and how the administration has struggled to deal with them once they are here.

The data indicates that once migrants get beyond the border, they’re incredibly difficult to dislodge.

The new report also indicates that only a small number of them are genuine asylum-seekers. Additionally, those who do try to seek asylum are often found to have false claims and are instructed to leave the country. Once again, Homeland Security faces challenges in locating and removing these individuals, as stated in the new report.

The data presented in the committee staff report is described as staggering, contradicting Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ statement that potential migrants should not attempt to travel to the U.S. as they will be apprehended and sent back.

“I cannot reword”

According to the numbers:

From January 20, 2021, to March 31, 2023, Customs and Border Protection agents and officers came across a total of 4,670,695 individuals who entered the southern border without authorization.

Approximately half of the individuals were removed from the country due to the Title 42 pandemic border policy, and a portion of them were held in custody. However, a total of 2,148,738 migrants were granted release.

Out of the mentioned individuals, only 79,059 have initiated their immigration court proceedings, and 10,229 have received their final judgments. Merely 11% were approved for asylum by a judge, whereas 61% were instructed to leave the country. The majority of these individuals were still present in the country.

The agency responsible for monitoring and removing migrants from within the United States, known as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has faced difficulties in efficiently handling the influx of newly arrived individuals.

The committee had discussions with ICE leaders in the region and discovered that officers have been reassigned from fieldwork to desk jobs. Consequently, they are no longer actively searching for migrants who have disregarded deportation orders.

According to a report from the GOP committee, deportation efforts have been hindered by a policy implemented by Biden that prevents officers from making arrests near schools, hospitals, churches, playgrounds, and other sensitive areas. This information is based on closed-door testimony from ICE officials.

Homeland Security referred questions about the report to the White House, which blasted the committee’s work as a “so-called report” and called it “full of lies from House Republicans who continue to play politics while sabotaging President Biden’s work to ramp up enforcement and personnel at the border.”

The White House has stated that Mr. Biden has requested funding to increase the number of Border Patrol agents and implement advanced technology for detecting illegal drugs. However, Congress has not taken any action on this request yet. Nevertheless, the administration has deployed 800 active-duty troops to the border, expanded detention capacity in CBP’s border facilities, and recently unveiled a new initiative to deport Venezuelans.

The White House has also indicated that deportations have increased in speed since the March 31 deadline mentioned in the House committee report.

Since the Title 42 pandemic border expulsion policy ended in May, Homeland Security has ousted nearly 300,000 migrants either through formal deportation or a voluntary return. The White House said that’s a higher rate than in 2019, the last comparable period before the pandemic, and during the Trump administration.

After being prompted by Capitol Hill, the Judiciary Committee utilized the data provided by Homeland Security.

Homeland Security apprehended and subsequently released a total of 310,379 undocumented immigrants at the southern border during the fiscal year 2021. This number increased to 777,283 in 2020. Furthermore, within the initial 10 months of the fiscal year 2023 (spanning from October to July), a staggering 929,496 individuals were released.

Those figures don’t include hundreds of thousands of other migrants who were sent from the border to other federal agencies before being released. That category would include unaccompanied illegal immigrant children sent to Health and Human Services for placement with sponsors.

The Judiciary Committee questioned the idea that the migrants are eligible for protection in the U.S. as “asylum-seekers,” a belief held by Democrats in Congress and mayors of major cities like Eric Adams in New York. Based on the information, only 6% of the migrants allowed into the U.S. underwent persecution screenings, which is the requirement for seeking asylum.

According to the committee’s data, almost half of the migrants who were determined ineligible for asylum and screened, were still present in the United States as of March 31.

The committee stated that although over two-thirds of individuals who completed the entire asylum process and had their claims processed were unsuccessful, a majority of them were not deported.

Homeland Security, in a written response to questions from Rep. Matt Gaetz, Florida Republican, said those it hasn’t been able to remove are generally citizens of countries such as Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua, where those governments either refuse or struggle to cooperate with deportation requests from the U.S., or from Eastern Hemisphere countries where ICE struggles to put together deportation flights.

The department informed the committee that it has been and is still enhancing its ability to carry out repatriation flights for noncitizens who are eligible for removal. This includes engaging in more diplomatic discussions with international partners to obtain their agreement to accept removal flights, issue travel documents, and simplify the necessary procedures.