The Biden administration is reportedly releasing many migrants into the United States who illegally entered the country in Del Rio, Texas, casting doubt on prior reports that the administration was going to conduct “widescale expulsions.”
“Haitians have been freed on a ‘very, very large scale’ in recent days, according to one U.S. official who put the figure in the thousands,” The Associated Press reported. “The official, who has direct knowledge of operations, was not authorized to discuss the matter Tuesday and spoke on condition of anonymity.”
The report noted that the latest development from Democrat President Joe Biden’s border crisis is “undercutting the Biden administration’s public statements that the thousands in the camp faced immediate expulsion.”
The report said that many have been released into the U.S. with notices to appear at an immigration office within the next two months.
“A second U.S. official, also with direct knowledge and speaking on the condition of anonymity, said large numbers of Haitians were being processed under immigration laws and not being placed on expulsion flights to Haiti that started Sunday,” The AP’s report said, later adding, “The releases in the U.S. were occurring despite the signaling of a massive effort to expel Haitians on flights to Haiti under pandemic-related authority that denies migrants an opportunity to seek asylum.”
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas claimed on Monday that the U.S. Border was not open, saying, “If you come to the United States illegally, you will be returned, your journey will not succeed, and you will be endangering your life and your family’s life.”
Yet, the AP noted that “accounts of wide-scale releases – some observed at the Del Rio bus station by Associated Press journalists” were “at odds with statements a day earlier” by Mayorkas, who had “traveled to Del Rio to promise swift action.”
Former acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan told the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2019 that federal law enforcement officials have had a problem with migrants not showing up after they received notices to appear.
McAleenan was asked by then-Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), “what percentage of the people show up for the asylum hearing?”
“So, it depends on the demographic, the court, but we do see too many cases where people are not showing up,” McAleenan said. “We did an expedited pilot with family units this year with ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and the immigration courts. Out of those 7,000 cases, 90 [percent] received final orders of removal in absentia, 90 percent.”
He added, “That is a recent sample from families crossing the border.”
The Washington Post reported that Department of Justice records approximate that 44% of migrants that were not in custody failed to show up for court proceedings.
Rodney Scott, the widely praised head of U.S. Border Patrol that Biden forced out earlier this year, warned in a letter to Senate leaders that Biden’s disastrous border policies are destroying America’s borders and that bad actors are exploiting the situation.
“The Biden administration’s team at DHS is laser-focused on expediting the flow of migrants into the U.S. and downplaying the significant vulnerability this creates for terrorists, narcotics smugglers, human traffickers, and even hostile nations to gain access to our homeland,” Scott wrote. “In my professional assessment, the U.S. Border Patrol is rapidly losing the situational awareness required to know who and what is entering our Homeland.”
Scott then issued a dire warning about who is likely exploiting the Biden administration’s weakness on the southern border.
“Low level, unsophisticated and uneducated smugglers are illegally crossing the border and increasingly evading apprehension daily,” Scott warned. “To think that well-resourced terrorist networks, criminal organization, and hostile nations are not doing the same is naive.”
This report has been updated to include additional information.