OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A new report from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has revealed a shocking number of illegal migrant crossings since President Joe Biden reversed nearly all of his predecessor’s border enforcement policies on his first day in office.
According to Just the News, which cited the ICE report, ” the backlog of aliens inside the United States awaiting decisions has nearly doubled under President Joe Biden to more than 6 million while arrests of suspected terrorists and violent offenders have also exploded.”
The outlet added: “The year-end report from U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement released Friday showed nearly every measure of illegal immigration rose substantially in 2023, candidly admitting the southern border’s being overrun by millions of illegal crossers has taken a major toll on the agency.”
“While ICE carefully prioritized its resources to meet these evolving mission needs and agency personnel continued to perform at a high standard, these increased demands have strained a workforce that has remained relatively static for the past decade,” the report said, according to the outlet.
The report is a warning for both liberal proponents of relaxed immigration enforcement and conservatives concerned about the nation’s security being compromised by Biden’s policies, which critics say have attracted millions to the country and placed a strain on cities like Chicago and New York City, which are thousands of miles away from the southern border.
Just the News added:
Liberal activists are certain to be alarmed by the number of illegal aliens kept in detention: ICE reported the number exploded 40.1% from 26,299 last year to 36,845 at the end of the 2023 fiscal year that finished Sept. 30.
Meanwhile, the number of illegal aliens permitted into the country without being detained, usually with court dates far in the future, leapt 30.3 percent in 2023 to more than 6.2 million, nearly double the 3.26 million total in the last year of Donald Trump’s presidency. The report said the vast majority of that total came from the Southwest border where illegal crossings have surged to as many as 12,000 or more a day.
House Republicans have been demanding that Biden increase border security substantially, which they argue he could do at the drop of a hat with executive action, before they will consider funding for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
In fact, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) ripped the Biden administration on Friday for discussing amnesty for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) with Mexican leaders while ditching border security negotiations with Congress.
“Johnson made the comments in response to a joint statement released Thursday from the United States and Mexico on a meeting Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador held with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday,” the Washington Examiner reported.
The statement, released by AMLO’s government, said that the “delegations also discussed the benefits of regularizing the situation of Hispanic migrants who have been undocumented for several years and the DACA beneficiaries, who are a vital part of the US economy and society.”
“At a time when America is experiencing the worst border crisis in our nation’s history, it is unconscionable to hear the Biden Administration’s announcement that Secretaries Mayorkas and Blinken discussed with the President of Mexico amnesty for illegal immigrants,” Johnson said in a post on X.
“The United States must focus on policies that deter — not attract — people attempting to come here illegally, and the smugglers who profit from the catastrophe at our border,” he added. “This development further demonstrates the Administration has no real intention of solving the humanitarian disaster and immediate national security crisis their policies have created.”
The Louisiana Republican and House leader then called on Biden should “take immediate steps to stop the flow of illegal immigration into our country.”
