Deportations of illegal aliens convicted of or arrested for crimes have declined massively under the Biden administration in recent years, according to a new report.
The report, from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), said that there was a 71% decline in removals of illegal aliens who had been arrested for a crime under Biden and a substantial decrease in the removal of convicted felons.
“Immigration enforcement in the interior of the country has dropped dramatically under President Biden’s policies. These policies have exempted nearly all but the most serious criminal aliens from arrest and removal and have imposed cumbersome new procedures and paperwork for ICE officers to complete cases,” wrote Jessica Vaughan, the director of policy studies for CIS.
During President Joe Biden’s first nine months in office, only 16,351 individuals were removed after being arrested compared to nearly 56,000 during the same period in 2019 under former President Donald Trump.
According to the report, deportations of convicted felons fell by 9,000 from the 2020 fiscal year to the 2021 fiscal year while overall removals fell from 186,000 to 59,000 in that same period. The decline in removals came as the southern border saw record-high crossings for months.
CIS used FOIA requests to obtain records from the Secure Communities initiative, which allows the sharing of data on illegal aliens arrested or detained for a crime.
In Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Vermont, enforcement actions fell by 80%. Some counties, including several in Georgia, saw enforcement fall 90%.
Vaughan said that local authorities should track the number of arrests they make of illegal aliens and report to ICE authorities and Congress the number of individuals who are not deported.
The surge of crossings under Biden appears set to continue, with the Biden admin requesting $3 billion in funding before the end of Title 42, a Trump-era measure allowing some would-be asylum seekers to be turned back because of COVID.
DHS officials said that after Title 42 ends on December 21, crossings will likely increase even more. There are already nearly 8,000 crossings per day, which some Republicans have likened to an “invasion.”
“Texas is under siege from this invasion every day and our delegation is tired of watching the Biden Administration have ‘more important things to do’ than protect our fellow Texans and Americans from cartels, terrorists, fentanyl traffickers, human traffickers, human smugglers, and murderers,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said Thursday while rolling out a proposal from Texas Republicans to secure the border.