Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), bound by new Biden administration policies, “carried out the lowest number of monthly deportations on record in April” even though the month also saw border crossings jump to a record high number, according to the New York Post.
If the low rate of deportations continues, there will be only 55,000 deportations in 2021, just a little over half of the normal number.
‘Immigrations and Customs Enforcement carried out the lowest number of monthly deportations on record in April, as illegal border crossings remain at 20-year highs,” the Post reported Thursday. “ICE deported 2,962 immigrants last month, the first time the number has fallen below 3,000, according to figures obtained by the Washington Post.”
“April deportations saw a 20 percent decline from March, when ICE deported 3,716,” the outlet added.
Typically, ICE deports around 100,000 people per year. This year, the agency is on track to deport just 55,000 people.
The change is the direct result of a new policy, instituted by the Biden administration, greatly restricting who can be deported, from any illegal immigrant convicted of a crime to just those who are considered a “national security risk.”
“President Biden and the Department of Homeland Security in March revised their guidelines on deportations to switch from deporting illegal immigrants convicted of crimes like fraud, assault, money laundering and driving under the influence to instead focus on those who pose a ‘national security risk,'” per the Post.
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has concentrated its limited law enforcement resources on threats to national security, border security, and public safety,” the agency said in a statement. “This has allowed ICE to focus on the quality of enforcement actions and how they further the security and safety of our communities rather than the simple quantity of arrests and removals.”
Biden pledged, early on in his administration, to halt deportations, and for the first 100 days of his administration, ICE deportations were mostly on hold because of an executive order President Joe Biden signed immediately after being inaugurated.
That does not, however, mean that the administration has called a full halt to removals. As The Daily Wire reported earlier this year, the Biden administration left in place a Trump administration provision that allows the government to “remove” or simply “expel” illegal immigrants without explanation under the theory that they could be carrying COVID-19.
“[T]he Biden administration, while issuing the deportation halt, has left a number of Trump-era immigration hurdles in place, including a provision that allows ICE to ‘expel’ certain illegal immigrants seeking asylum rather than go through a formal deportation process, under the theory that unscreened individuals from other countries are a threat to public health because they could be carrying COVID-19,” per The Daily Wire.
The administration is also suffering through a sharp spike in illegal immigration at the United States-Mexico border. Despite suggestions that the administration is handling what is now termed a “crisis,” a record number of migrants were captured trying to cross the southern border in March. The Department of Homeland Security has yet to release statistics for the month of April.
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