Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents found 73 illegal immigrants in homes believed to be operated by human smugglers in an affluent area of Washington D.C.
Sixty adults and 13 children were found living across six residential homes in D.C.’s northwest area, where the median home price is $750,000, NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/ice-finds-73-migrants-living-smuggler-stash-houses-northwest-dc-intern-rcna40357?utm_source=facebook&amp;utm_medium=news_tab">reported</a>. The news outlet reviewed internal documents from ICE, which didn’t list the addresses of the homes where the people were kept or how many were housed in a single home.
Illegal immigrants are regularly brought into the U.S. by human smugglers, who often charge thousands of dollars and are tied to drug cartels. These smugglers keep the immigrants hidden in places known as “stash houses,” NBC reported, usually in poor conditions without beds, running water, or air conditioning. The outlet noted that these homes aren’t usually so far from the U.S.-Mexico border.
The news comes shortly after President Joe Biden’s administration agreed to fill gaps in part of the border wall, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-reverses-course-will-close-gaps-in-areas-of-border-wall-as-crisis-hits-d-c-elections-loom">reported</a>. The decision was made even though Biden promised during the 2020 campaign that his administration would stop all future construction of a border wall.
The Department of Homeland Security said in <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2022/07/28/dhs-address-life-safety-and-operational-requirements-us-border-patrols-yuma-sector">a press release</a> on Thursday that Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had authorized the closure of “four gaps located within an incomplete border barrier project near the Morelos Dam in the U.S. Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector.” The press release noted that this section of the border, with its close proximity to the Colorado River, presented a safety risk to illegal immigrants trying to cross into the U.S.
The decision to close gaps in the wall in Arizona, where Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly faces re-election in November, also comes after Texas Governor Greg Abbott began sending illegal immigrants from Texas to Washington, D.C.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Thursday called Texas and Arizona’s move to send illegal immigrants to a Democrat-controlled city “a humanitarian crisis,” prompting a response from Abbott.
“With pledges from Texas and Arizona to continue these abhorrent operations indefinitely, the situation is dire, and we consider this a humanitarian crisis — one that could overwhelm our social support network without immediate and sustained federal intervention,” Bowser wrote in a letter requesting help from the National Guard to control the situation.
“We’ve had a number of discussions,” she added. “We’ve facilitated FEMA’s involvement with a million dollar grant that has now been increased to work with a lead nonprofit agency. We’ve facilitated using those grant funds to set up respite center in a neighboring jurisdiction and I’ve also asked the Secretary of the Army to deploy the D.C. National Guard to help lead that effort.”
Abbott tweeted in response, saying “D.C. is experiencing a fraction of the disastrous impact the border crisis has caused Texas.”
“Mayor Bowser should stop attacking Texas for securing the border &amp; demand Joe Biden do his job,” he added.

Yuma Arizona Border Crossing

73 Illegal Immigrants Found In Homes Operated By Human Smugglers In Affluent Part Of Washington, D.C.

Alejandro Mayorkas

Arizona

Greg Abbott

Illegal Immigration

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Muriel Bowser

Migrant women in detention centers might soon be given the option of getting an abortion even if the procedure is illegal within the state where the woman is held.
A memorandum from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Tae Johnson offered details regarding the new policy.
&#8220;This memorandum serves as a reminder of existing ICE policies and standards requiring that pregnant individuals detained in ICE immigration custody have access to full reproductive health care,&#8221; read the letter sent to agency official Corey Price, as first <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/ice-says-immigrant-women-in-custody-still-entitled-to-abortion-services-11657639375?mod=panda_wsj_author_alert" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> by The Wall Street Journal.
&#8221;This is also a reminder that, pursuant to existing ICE policy, it may be necessary to transfer a detained pregnant individual within an area of responsibility (AOR) or to another AOR, when appropriate and practicable, in order to ensure such access,&#8221; it added.
ICE facilities already allow abortions for migrants in cases of rape, incest, or a threat to a mother&#8217;s life, per the agency&#8217;s current regulations. The new policy would allow the expansion of access for those detained and awaiting the outcome of asylum claims.
The change is also an action to address trigger laws and new restrictions added in several conservative-led states following the overturn of Roe v. Wade in June. The new ICE policy would take precedence in states with laws that strongly limit abortion, allowing abortions in states where they would otherwise be illegal.
It is unclear how many women the new policy could impact. Though the number of migrants crossing the nation&#8217;s southern border has surged during the Biden administration, the number of women in detention who would seek an abortion while detained is unknown.
The upcoming policy change also signals a strong contrast with former President Donald Trump. Trump administration leaders sought to ban abortion procedures for minor women in detention by ICE, leading to a lengthy legal battle that ended in 2020 with a <a href="https://www.aclu.org/joint-stipulation-dismissal-without-prejudice" target="_blank" rel="noopener">policy</a> that prohibits Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) staff and staff employed by any ORR-funded shelter from blocking or interfering with an unaccompanied pregnant minor&#8217;s access to abortion.
The memo also follows an executive order signed last week by President Joe Biden that seeks to preserve access to abortion. The order will not change the overturn of Roe v. Wade but offers other options for women who seek abortion access.
“Let me be clear. While I wish it had not come to this, this is the fastest route available,” Biden <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/07/08/remarks-by-president-biden-on-protecting-access-to-reproductive-health-care-services/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. “The fastest way to restore Roe is to pass a national law codifying Roe, which I will sign immediately upon its passage on my desk.”
Biden also encouraged Americans to vote in record numbers to support abortion access. He noted the need for two additional pro-abortion rights senators and a pro-abortion rights House needed to &#8220;codify Roe&#8221; as federal law.
“I don’t think the Court—or for that matter the Republicans who for decades have pushed their extreme agenda—have a clue about the power of American women. But they’re about to find out,” Biden said.

Report: ICE To Offer Detained Migrants Abortion Services

Abortion

Pro-Life Movement

Federal, state, and local authorities announced the rescue of 70 missing children in parts of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico.
“Operation Lost Souls” recovered the missing children — many of whom were runaways ranging between the ages of 10 and 17 — throughout Texas, as well as the state of Colorado and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, according to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) <a href="https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/hsi-el-paso-locates-recovers-70-missing-children-multi-agency-operation#:~:text=TX%20Child%20Exploitation-,HSI%20El%20Paso%20locates%2C%20recovers%2070,children%20in%20multi%2Dagency%20operation&amp;text=EL%20PASO%20%E2%80%93%20Homeland%20Security%20Investigations,week%20operation%20in%20West%20Texas">press release</a>.
The operation ran from the end of April through the middle of May, and its results were announced on May 25, which is also National Missing Children’s Day.
The rescued children included victims of sex trafficking and physical and sexual abuse. According to ICE, the agencies involved provided counseling to the children and their families.
“Operation Lost Souls exemplifies Homeland Security Investigations’ commitment to protecting the public from crimes of victimization. In this case, we are looking out for our children — our community’s most precious resource,” HSI El Paso Deputy Special Agent Taekuk Cho said in the press release. “HSI is committed to continue working with our law enforcement partners to locate, recover and help missing children heal, while ensuring that perpetrators are held responsible for these heinous crimes and brought to justice.”
“At the Department of Public Safety, teamwork is one of our core values,” Texas DPS Major Matthew Mull added. “We are grateful for all of our law enforcement partners who participated in this operation and who work around-the-clock every day to protect our communities, including our youth.”
The announcement of “Operation Lost Souls” comes days after authorities arrested eight individuals in connection with a 15-year-old girl who was allegedly <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/texas-girl-trafficked-mavericks-dallas-suspects-arrested-oklahoma">trafficked from a Dallas Mavericks game</a> on April 8.
The girl allegedly separated from her father to use the restroom at the game and was later seen leaving the American Airlines Center with an unknown man. A few days later, the Texas Counter-Trafficking Initiative found the girl’s nude photos displayed on a website associated with prostitution. Police in Oklahoma City were able to recover the victim on April 18 — 11 days after her disappearance.
&#8220;We are thankful for the work of the Oklahoma City Police Department and the recovery of our daughter. My heart breaks for the unimaginable things my daughter had to endure for the 11 days she was taken, and I am so glad she is safe as we work toward her recovery,&#8221; the girl&#8217;s mother said in a May 5 statement.
Zeke Fortenberry, an attorney representing the family, questioned how the male suspect who allegedly lured the girl from the arena was able to obtain a fraudulent ticket.
&#8220;The systems and organizations involved in this case continually failed the victim. She should never have had contact with the man at the Mavericks game,” Fortenberry said. “This victim’s life will forever be changed.”
Following an interview on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/candace">Candace</a> last year, Tim Ballard — a former Department of Homeland Security special agent and founder of <a href="https://ourrescue.org/">Operation Underground Railroad</a> — explained that Americans are the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-many-more-can-we-get-out-inside-the-frontline-battle-to-end-child-sex-trafficking">largest drivers of demand</a> for the $150 billion global sex trafficking industry.
“The country with the highest demand is going to be the country most exposed to sexual material,” Ballard said. “And so, what country is as large as the United States where everyone has access to the internet? None. So that’s my theory as to why the United States is the largest consumer.”

Flashing lights on a police car

Authorities Rescue 70 Missing Children, Including Sex-Trafficking Victims In Texas, Colorado, And Mexico

70 Missing Children Rescued In Texas, Colorado, And Mexico, Authorities Say

Children

Colorado

Human Trafficking

Mexico

Sex Trafficking

Texas

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awarded a massive sum to a nonprofit for migrant detention at six hotels, but $17 million &#8220;went largely unused,&#8221; while the agency oddly accepted an unsolicited contract proposal while not considering others, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
ICE has been using housing for detained family units since 2001, an inspector general <a href="https://www.oversight.gov/sites/default/files/oig-reports/DHS/OIG-22-37.pdf">report</a> says. Amid a migrant surge in March 2021 and the anticipation of more to come, the federal agency entered into a $86.9 million contract with the nonprofit Endeavors for a six-month period. The money was for 1,239 beds and other hotel services in Texas and Arizona.
&#8220;ICE did not adequately justify the need for the sole source contract to house migrant families and spent approximately $17 million for hotel space and services at six hotels that went largely unused between April and June 2021,&#8221; the inspector general report found. &#8220;ICE’s sole source contract with Endeavors resulted in millions of dollars spent on unused hotel space.&#8221;
As opposed to following the government&#8217;s competitive procurement process, ICE awarded the nonprofit with a sole contract after receiving an unsolicited proposal. Under the Federal Acquisition Regulation, government contracts are required to be awarded through an open competitive process.
It is typical for an agency to weigh proposals from contractors following a government request, but ICE neglected this process and said the &#8220;unusual and compelling urgency&#8221; of the migrant situation required accepting Endeavors&#8217; offer, according to the report.
ICE claimed that Endeavors &#8220;was the only known source capable&#8221; to fulfill the thousands of migrant beds but the DHS found no proof of this. The inspector general report notes that ICE used a different contractor in 2021 for housing services, but that the contractor and others were not given the opportunity to submit proposals.
&#8220;Based on our analysis of ICE’s justification for sole sourcing the contract to Endeavors, we determined ICE did not have supporting documentation to establish that Endeavors was the only contractor that could provide the services needed,&#8221; the report states. &#8220;ICE records showed that Endeavors had no experience providing the services covered by the sole source contract, including hotel beds or all-inclusive emergency family residential services.
ICE did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Wire.
Of the $17 million allocated for hotel space and services, roughly $16.98 million was spent on unused beds at hotels, the report found. At an El Paso, Texas, hotel, there was an average usage of only 21% from April to June 2021 — and 45% at a Phoenix hotel.
<div id="attachment_369702" style="width: 826px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-369702" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-369702 " src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Screen-Shot-2022-04-15-at-10.25.57-PM-1024x526.png" alt="" width="816" height="419" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/04/Screen-Shot-2022-04-15-at-10.25.57-PM-1024x526.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/04/Screen-Shot-2022-04-15-at-10.25.57-PM-300x154.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/04/Screen-Shot-2022-04-15-at-10.25.57-PM-768x394.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/04/Screen-Shot-2022-04-15-at-10.25.57-PM.png 1348w" sizes="(max-width: 816px) 100vw, 816px" />Source: DHS OIG analysis of ICE data</div>
The report also found that Endeavors did not test migrants for COVID-19 and that &#8220;ICE standards to ensure proper care&#8221; in facilities were not followed.
&#8220;For example, families were not tested by ICE for COVID-19 prior to being transported to hotels and were not always tested by Endeavors staff upon arrival at or departure from hotels, putting migrant families and the outside population at risk of contracting COVID-19,&#8221; according to DHS.
The news comes amid reports of a record-breaking <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-latest-policy-decision-related-to-southern-border-is-so-bad-that-even-beto-orourke-blasts-him">surge</a> of migrants expected at the U.S.-Mexico border. The Biden administration moved to roll back Title 42 this month — which is a Trump-era policy responsible for deporting <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/migrant-tsunami-will-worsen-due-to-title-42-rollback-former-trump-and-biden-border-patrol-chief-says">nearly</a> 1.7 million migrants — a policy that allows immigration officials to turn away immigrants due to COVID-19.

Border

ICE Wasted Roughly $17 Million On Hotel Rooms For Illegal Immigrants, Report Finds

Department of Homeland Security

Housing

Deportations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fell in 2021 to the lowest level ever recorded, according to a Friday report by the agency.
The Biden administration has taken steps to curtail ICE operations while at the same time struggling to contain an explosion in border crossings on the U.S. southern border. ICE said in a <a href="https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-releases-fy-2021-annual-report">release</a> that the new data reflect the agency’s focus “on threats to national security, public safety, and border security.”
“In Fiscal Year 2021, ICE officers and special agents effectively carried out their national security, public safety, and border security mission despite having to work through the devastating COVID-19 pandemic,” ICE Acting Director Tae Johnson said in a statement. “As the annual report’s data reflects, ICE’s officers and special agents focused on cases that delivered the greatest law enforcement impact in communities across the country while upholding our values as a nation.”
The report shows that ICE recorded 59,011 deportations in fiscal year 2021. That total is down by well over 120,000 from 185,884 in fiscal year 2020. The decrease is in part to enforcement changes made due to COVID-19, and due in part to a scaling back of ICE priorities. According to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/03/11/ice-report-deporations-arrests/">The Washington Post</a>:
<blockquote>The lower numbers were partly the result of enforcement changes triggered by the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/coronavirus/?itid=lk_inline_manual_4">coronavirus</a> pandemic that have allowed U.S. agents to rapidly expel unlawful border crossers under the Title 42 public health code, a procedure that does not count as a formal deportation.
But another gauge of ICE enforcement activity — immigration arrests in the U.S. interior — also showed a significant drop relative to historic averages. Officers working for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) made about 74,082 administrative arrests during the 2021 fiscal year, down from 104,000 during fiscal 2020 and an average of 148,000 annually from 2017 through 2019.</blockquote>
The U.S. border is reportedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-officials-reveal-stunning-projections-for-bidens-border-crisis-significantly-worse-than-2021">projected</a> to be flooded in another record-breaking border crossings this Spring. The Biden administration is bracing for a wave of migrants that could result in border officials making up to 9,000 arrests per day. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection struggled to handle border crossers last year, making a record-breaking 1.7 million arrests. At the height of the migration, daily arrests rose up to 6,500 a day.
Former acting CBP commissioner Mark Morgan released a <a href="https://www.heritage.org/press/heritage-experts-blast-new-biden-border-crisis-numbers-lack-transparency">statement</a> in January slamming President Joe Biden over the ongoing border crisis. Morgan said:
<blockquote>More than a year ago, even as Joe Biden was preparing to roll back President Donald Trump’s effective border security policies, he claimed he did not want to end up with ‘two million people on our border.’ After a year on the job, it’s undeniable that Biden has failed even by his own basic measure.
In 12 months, CBP recorded more than two million encounters along the southwest border, a shocking and historic number. But that number does not include an estimated 600,000 or more ‘got-aways,’ individuals who cross the border illegally but which Border Patrol is unable to detain. And then there are the ‘turn-backs,’ those who make an effort to cross the border but eventually give up and return to their country of origin. Under Biden, that number was around 400,000. Under Joe Biden, more than three million people have tried to violate America’s sovereignty and illegally enter our country. This is not only the worst border crisis in American history—it’s the worst 12 months for any president when it comes to border security.</blockquote>
Enter for the chance to hang out with Gina Carano at the premiere of her new Daily Wire movie, Terror on the Prairie! Two lucky Daily Wire members will be given the complete red carpet treatment &#8211; free airfare, hotel, premiere car service, and exclusive merch. Daily Wire members can click <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/redcarpet">here</a> to enter for a chance to win. If you’re not a Daily Wire member yet, click <a href="http://dailywire.com/subscribe">here</a> to join us so you can win this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Rio Grande

ICE Deportations Drop To All-Time Low Amid Immigration Crisis On U.S. Southern Border

Deportations

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

The New York attorney general has tapped a special advisor and legal counsel who has claimed she would use her position in power to &#8220;prosecute&#8221; and &#8220;abolish&#8221; the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, announced this week that Zephyr Teachout, a left-wing attorney and professor at Fordham University School of Law, would join her team.
&#8220;I&#8217;m proud to join such an extraordinary office,&#8221; Teachout <a href="https://twitter.com/ZephyrTeachout/status/1485682790255448067">said</a> Monday in a statement, noting that she &#8220;couldn&#8217;t be happier to be working with [James] and her extraordinary lawyers and leaders in her office.&#8221;
Teachout ran for attorney general herself last year, but dropped out of the race and endorsed James. The attorney also ran for the high-level statewide position in 2018, as well as for the New York legislature in 2016 and the governorship in 2014 — losing to Andrew Cuomo. She notably claimed while running for AG in 2018, &#8220;One of the key things of my campaign is the wrong people are in jail. We have to end mass incarceration and return our focus to white-collar crime,&#8221; as <a href="https://freebeacon.com/democrats/ny-attorney-general-taps-abolish-ice-activist-as-special-adviser/">the</a> Washington Free Beacon noted.
In other 2018 remarks, Teachout <a href="https://nowthisnews.com/videos/politics/zephyr-teachout-is-promising-to-prosecute-ice">claimed</a>, &#8220;I think it&#8217;s critical that law enforcement speak out and say [ICE] is a tool of cruelty, unconstitutional behavior, illegality. I will prosecute ICE for their criminal acts.&#8221;
&#8220;ICE has to be abolished,&#8221; she also said. &#8220;And I say that as somebody who is running for one of the top law enforcement jobs in the country,&#8221; she said, adding that the agency was &#8220;born in xenophobia in the time after 9/11, and has grown up to become a tool of fear and illegality.&#8221;
In a phone interview with The Daily Wire, Mark Morgan, the former chief operating officer and acting commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said Teachout&#8217;s claims about ICE are &#8220;moronic&#8221; and &#8220;devoid of any truth, fact, or reality with respect to ICE&#8217;s statutory mission.&#8221;
&#8220;If you take a look at ICE, what their statutory responsibility is — and what she does, and a lot of people do too — is they think of ICE as only the part of ICE enforcement or removal operations,&#8221; said Morgan. &#8220;That their statute of job is to find illegal aliens and remove them. I suggest anybody take three minutes and go to their website and look at the statistical accomplishments. How many pedophiles that they have arrested and saved countless children from the atrocities they&#8217;ve experienced, how many gang members they have arrested. The list goes on and on.&#8221;
The appointment of Teachout comes after council members in New York City <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/illegal-immigrants-vote-new-york-city-citizenship">approved</a> a law in December that permits illegal aliens to cast ballots in municipal elections. Called the &#8220;Non-Citizen Voting Law,&#8221; the policy was signed by Democratic Mayor Eric Adams. Currently, Democrats in the state <a href="https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/New-York-bill-proposes-local-police-be-banned-16018943.php">legislature</a> are considering contentious bills that would bar law enforcement in New York from working with ICE.
Related:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/letitia-james-suspends-her-campaign-for-new-york-governor">Letitia James Suspends Her Campaign For New York Governor</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-york-attorney-general-letitia-james-announces-run-for-governor">New York Attorney General Letitia James Announces Run For Governor</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-trump-jr-blast-ny-ag-letitia-james-for-political-persecution-this-is-banana-republic-stuff">Trump, Trump Jr. Blast NY AG Letitia James For ‘Political Persecution’: ‘This Is Banana Republic Stuff’</a></li>
</ul>
Send story tips to Gabe Kaminsky at <a href="mailto:gekaminsky@protonmail.com">gekaminsky@protonmail.com</a>. Follow him <a href="https://twitter.com/Gabe__Kaminsky">on Twitter.</a>

New York AG

New York Attorney General Appoints Counsel Who Has Supported ‘Abolish ICE’ Movement

Letitia James

New York

Fox News reporter Bill Melugin caught Democrat President Joe Biden&#8217;s administration allegedly releasing a large group of single adult illegal aliens into the United States in Texas.
&#8220;Fox witnessed men go into a small, unmarked office, then re-emerge moments later as multiple taxi cabs then showed up to collect the migrants — who were then shuttled off to nearby Harlingen Airport. There were no children or migrant families among the groups,&#8221; Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/texas-footage-single-adult-migrants-released-us">reported</a>. &#8220;Several of the migrants told Fox that they had crossed illegally that morning, paying approximately $2,000 per person to cartel smugglers. They also said they were flying to destinations including Miami, Houston and Atlanta.&#8221;
The city of Brownsville told Fox News that it works with the Biden administration to to facilitate &#8220;the transfer of these migrants to their final destination by allowing them to use services to contact their families, NGOs, or a taxicab.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
NEW: We witnessed the federal gov mass releasing single adult migrants, almost all men, at a parking garage in Brownsville. Taxi cabs were then called for them. We followed the taxis to Harlingen airport, where the migrants were dropped off to get on flights around U.S. <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FoxNews</a> <a href="https://t.co/HcSSwtjMnR">pic.twitter.com/HcSSwtjMnR</a>
&mdash; Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) <a href="https://twitter.com/BillFOXLA/status/1485992229017731077?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;There are black tarps set up around the parking garage to obstruct the public’s view,&#8221; Melugin wrote on Twitter. &#8220;Single adult migrants are supposed to be expelled from the country via Title 42. CBP tells me they had no involvement with these releases. An ICE source tells me these were ICE releases. ICE tells me they are looking into it. I am awaiting further comment from them.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Single adult migrants are supposed to be expelled from the country via Title 42. CBP tells me they had no involvement with these releases. An ICE source tells me these were ICE releases. ICE tells me they are looking into it. I am awaiting further comment from them. <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FoxNews</a>
&mdash; Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) <a href="https://twitter.com/BillFOXLA/status/1485993503754752003?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The news comes as the Biden administration finally <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/disaster-bidens-december-illegal-border-crossing-numbers-worse-than-3-previous-years-combined">released</a> on Monday the December numbers for illegal border crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border, which showed a dramatic uptick compared to previous years.
“The number of unique individuals encountered in December 2021 was 135,040, a 5 percent increase in the number of unique individuals encountered the prior month,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/cbp-releases-december-2021-monthly-operational-update">said</a> in a statement. “In total, there were 178,840 encounters along the Southwest land border in December, a 2 percent increase compared to November.”
The 178,840 illegal border crossings for December 2021 was higher than the December totals from 2020, 2019, and 2018 combined when there was a total of 175,353 illegal border crossings.
Mark Morgan, former acting CBP commissioner and Heritage visiting fellow, responded to the news in a statement, <a href="https://www.heritage.org/press/heritage-experts-blast-new-biden-border-crisis-numbers-lack-transparency">saying</a>, “More than a year ago, even as Joe Biden was preparing to roll back President Donald Trump’s effective border security policies, he claimed he did not want to end up with ‘two million people on our border.’ After a year on the job, it’s undeniable that Biden has failed even by his own basic measure.”
“In 12 months, CBP recorded more than two million encounters along the southwest border, a shocking and historic number,” Morgan added. “But that number does not include an estimated 600,000 or more ‘got-aways,’ individuals who cross the border illegally but which Border Patrol is unable to detain. And then there are the ‘turn-backs,’ those who make an effort to cross the border but eventually give up and return to their country of origin. Under Biden, that number was around 400,000. Under Joe Biden, more than three million people have tried to violate America’s sovereignty and illegally enter our country. This is not only the worst border crisis in American history—it’s the worst 12 months for any president when it comes to border security.”

illegal alien

WATCH: Biden Admin Caught Allegedly Releasing Large Number Of Single Adult Illegal Aliens Into U.S.

On Tuesday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas further limited Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) powers to combat illegal immigration, ordering them to halt mass worksite deportation raids.
The <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/memo_from_secretary_mayorkas_on_worksite_enforcement.pdf">memo</a> was addressed to several officials, including the acting director of ICE, the director of Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the acting commissioner of CBP, and titled, “Worksite Enforcement: The Strategy to Protect the American Labor Market, the Conditions of the American Worksite, and the Dignity of the Individual.&#8221; Mayorkas began the memo, saying, “Thank you for your leadership as we work to more effectively accomplish our Department&#8217;s critical missions.”
“Our worksite enforcement efforts can have a significant impact on the well-being of individuals and the fairness of the labor market,” Mayorkas wrote, before stating that the focus of the agency’s efforts should be on the exploitation of “undocumented workers.”
“Our accomplishments in this area make clear that we can maximize the impact of our efforts by focusing on unscrupulous employers who exploit the vulnerability of undocumented workers,” he wrote. “These employers engage in illegal acts ranging from the payment of substandard wages to imposing unsafe working conditions and facilitating human trafficking and child exploitation. Their culpability compels the intense focus of our enforcement resources.”
“In addition, unscrupulous employers harm each worker competing for a job. By exploiting undocumented workers and paying them substandard wages, the unscrupulous employers create an unfair labor market. They also unfairly drive down their costs and disadvantage their business competitors who abide by the law,” Mayorkas continued. “We can most effectively protect the American labor market, the conditions of the American worksite, and the dignity of the individual by focusing our worksite enforcement efforts on unscrupulous employers.”
Mayorkas then listed “policies and practices” regarding the enforcement of “wage protections, workplace safety, labor rights, and other laws and standards. 
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Reduce the demand for illegal employment by delivering more severe consequences to exploitative employers and their agents;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Increase the willingness of workers to report violations of law by exploitative employers and cooperate in employment and labor standards investigations; and,</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Broaden and deepen mechanisms for coordination between the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor, the Department of Justice, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, and state labor agencies.</li>
</ul>
Mayorkas then gave “immediate guidance,” which included the demand that ICE “cease mass worksite operations.”
“The deployment of mass worksite operations, sometimes resulting in the simultaneous arrest of hundreds of workers, was not focused on the most pernicious aspect of our country&#8217;s unauthorized employment challenge: exploitative employers,” Mayorkas said. “These highly visible operations misallocated enforcement resources while chilling, and even serving as a tool of retaliation for, worker cooperation in workplace standards investigations.”
“I look forward to working with you on these critical efforts,” Mayorkas concluded.
“After the issuance of today’s memorandum effectively ending worksite enforcement – on top of other radical policy changes that are getting hard to count — one thing is clear: Secretary Mayorkas is the biggest disaster for border security and immigration enforcement in American history,&#8221; RJ Hauman, head of government relations for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) told <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mayorkas-orders-ice-stop-worksite-raids-limit-immigration-deportations">Fox News</a>. &#8220;Since the Biden administration cannot abolish ICE outright, Mayorkas is destroying it from within.&#8221;

Mayorkas Is ‘Destroying’ ICE ‘From Within’: Demands End To Mass Worksite Raids, Must Focus Instead On ‘Exploitation’ Of ‘Undocumented Workers’

Some criminal illegal immigrants should not be targeted for deportation, the Biden administration is directing U.S. immigration authorities.
New Department of Homeland Security guidance released on Thursday directs border authorities to focus their efforts on apprehending and removing &#8220;those who pose a threat to national security, public safety, and border.&#8221;
&#8220;The fact an individual is a removable noncitizen, therefore, should not alone be the basis of an enforcement action against them. We will use our discretion and focus our enforcement resources in a more targeted way. Justice and our country&#8217;s well-being require it,&#8221; reads the seven-page <a href="https://www.ice.gov/doclib/news/guidelines-civilimmigrationlaw.pdf">memo</a> from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Tae Johnson.
Not even every illegal immigrant who has committed a crime, however, should be targeted for deportation, the new guidance says. There may be &#8220;mitigating factors&#8221; that make criminal immigrants less of a priority for enforcement action. These factors include the perpetrator&#8217;s &#8220;advanced or tender age,&#8221; a &#8220;mental condition that may have contributed to the criminal conduct,&#8221; the amount of time since the crime was committed and evidence of rehabilitation, having been in the U.S. for a long time, having been a crime victim, the impact their deportation would have on their family in the U.S., and even military or other public service by the person or their immediate family.
Border authorities are also cautioned to base their decision about whether an illegal immigrant poses a current threat to public safety through an &#8220;assessment of the individual and the totality of the facts and circumstances,&#8221; and not on &#8220;bright lines or categories.&#8221;
Authorities would also not be allowed to factor in a migrant&#8217;s &#8220;exercise of their First Amendment rights,&#8221; such as participating in a protest when deciding to take enforcement action against them, Mayorkas wrote.
The guidance will go into effect on Nov. 29.
The memo was criticized by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who slammed the Biden administration for its lax immigration policies amid a crisis at the border.
“The Biden administration has welcomed the flood of illegal aliens crossing our border and is now promising those same illegal aliens that they may stay in the U.S. without repercussions,” Cotton tweeted.
Last month, an influx of more than 14,000 migrants, mostly from Haiti, including families, pregnant women, and babies crossed the southern border and camped near the Del Rio International Bridge. The sprawling camp was eventually fully cleared out by Friday, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it will reopen the port of entry in the area, which had been closed for a week after it was overwhelmed with migrants.
The situation had already deteriorated significantly in July, when border authorities encountered more than 212,000 migrants, the highest number since March 2000. In August, authorities encountered 209,000 people attempting to cross the border, compared to 50,000 people in the same month last year.
So far this year, authorities have encountered more than 1.4 million migrants at the southern border.
&#8220;The majority of undocumented noncitizens who could be subject to removal have been contributing members of our communities for years. They include individuals who work on the frontlines in the battle against COVID, lead our congregations of faith, teach our children, do back-breaking farm work to help deliver food to our table, and contribute in many other meaningful ways,&#8221; Mayorkas wrote in the guidance.

border

Some Criminal Illegal Immigrants Should Not Be Deported, Biden Administration Tells ICE

Biden Administration

A former field office director for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says tens of thousands of foreigners are being released into the United States.
Tom Feeley, who headed up the Buffalo ICE branch, &#8220;alleges that ICE headquarters pressures local field offices to release large numbers of migrants to clear room for more people from the border,&#8221; Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ice-cbp-immigrants-release-southern-border">reported</a>. &#8220;And as more and more migrants cross the border each day and crowd facilities there, headquarters will often come back and demand yet more releases to make room for even more aliens.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s happening on a grand scale,&#8221; Feeley told the network. &#8220;They&#8217;re getting pounded every day fielding calls from headquarters about who they can release to make room for more people on the border. And the following week, they&#8217;re getting more calls almost daily, again, about who can you release to make room for more people on the border.&#8221;
Feeley added: &#8220;So basically all we&#8217;re doing is we&#8217;re catching them at the border, shipping them into the interior, releasing them and getting more and then releasing them and then getting more and releasing them.&#8221;
The former field director said &#8220;It&#8217;s a lot like a hotel chain,&#8221; noting that Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), part of ICE, &#8220;can tell how many beds are open at a current facility.&#8221;
&#8220;And then the people in charge of that aircraft will reach out to the office and say, &#8216;You know what, you have a hundred beds open, we’re going to send you a hundred illegal aliens,'&#8221; Feeley said of the process ICE uses to release illegals from its field offices.
&#8220;What&#8217;s currently happening now at the headquarters level, which again has never really taken place in the past, they&#8217;re actually going through the detain dockets at these facilities and picking out cases they want released to clear out beds so they can ship them more illegal aliens,&#8221; Feeley added. &#8220;So it&#8217;s just another version of catch and release, but on a grander scale.&#8221;
More than 12,000 foreigners have been waiting in makeshift camps under the Del Rio bridge in Texas to be admitted into the U.S.
&#8220;The number of migrants &#8212; many of them Haitian &#8212; assembled in the temporary site swelled from roughly 400 a week ago. At times, the number has topped 14,000,&#8221; CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/20/us/us-border-crisis-del-rio-texas/index.html">reported</a>. &#8220;The surge may owe simply to word of mouth and social media that the border at Del Rio was open, US Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz has said. The migrants sleep in tents or in the dirt, surrounded by growing piles of garbage, and they wait in hopes of being processed by the overwhelmed US Border Patrol. Few wear masks, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, video from the scene shows.&#8221;
&#8220;U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has seen an increase in the number of migrants who entered from the U.S. southern border being sent to offices throughout the United States, including Chicago. Custody determinations are made on a case-by-case basis in accordance with U.S. law and Department of Homeland Security policy and entail consideration of the merits and factors of each case while also adhering to current agency priorities, guidelines and legal mandates,&#8221; an ICE spokesperson told Fox News.

TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-IMMIGRATION-TEXAS

‘Grand Scale’: Tens Of Thousands Of Illegal Aliens Being Released Into U.S., Ex-ICE Official Says

Border Crisis

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is continuing to roll back Trump administration rules, now reportedly bypassing the detainment or deportation of illegal migrants who are suspected of being victims of crime.
The new ICE policy is known as a “victim-centered approach” to enforcement, according to a Forbes <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2021/08/11/ice-says-it-will-avoid-arresting-and-deporting-crime-victims/?sh=5e294cd12627">report</a>.
&#8220;ICE will now avoid taking action against undocumented immigrants who applied for special visas offered to victims of <a class="color-link" title="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/victims-of-human-trafficking-and-other-crimes/victims-of-criminal-activity-u-nonimmigrant-status" href="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/victims-of-human-trafficking-and-other-crimes/victims-of-criminal-activity-u-nonimmigrant-status" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-ga-track="ExternalLink:https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/victims-of-human-trafficking-and-other-crimes/victims-of-criminal-activity-u-nonimmigrant-status" aria-label="abuse" aria-hidden="true">abuse</a>, <a class="color-link" title="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/victims-of-human-trafficking-and-other-crimes/victims-of-human-trafficking-t-nonimmigrant-status" href="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/victims-of-human-trafficking-and-other-crimes/victims-of-human-trafficking-t-nonimmigrant-status" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-ga-track="ExternalLink:https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/victims-of-human-trafficking-and-other-crimes/victims-of-human-trafficking-t-nonimmigrant-status" aria-label="human trafficking" aria-hidden="true">human trafficking</a>, <a class="color-link" title="https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-eligibility/green-card-for-vawa-self-petitioner" href="https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-eligibility/green-card-for-vawa-self-petitioner" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-ga-track="ExternalLink:https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-eligibility/green-card-for-vawa-self-petitioner" aria-label="domestic violence" aria-hidden="true">domestic violence</a>, <a class="color-link" title="https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/permanent-workers/employment-based-immigration-fourth-preference-eb-4/special-immigrant-juveniles" href="https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/permanent-workers/employment-based-immigration-fourth-preference-eb-4/special-immigrant-juveniles" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-ga-track="ExternalLink:https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/permanent-workers/employment-based-immigration-fourth-preference-eb-4/special-immigrant-juveniles" aria-label="child neglect" aria-hidden="true">child neglect</a> or other serious crimes, according to a <a class="color-link" title="https://www.ice.gov/doclib/news/releases/2021/11005.3.pdf" href="https://www.ice.gov/doclib/news/releases/2021/11005.3.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-ga-track="ExternalLink:https://www.ice.gov/doclib/news/releases/2021/11005.3.pdf" aria-label="directive released Wednesday" aria-hidden="true">directive released Wednesday</a>,&#8221; the report noted.
<div class="key-facts-element animate-line">
Immigration agents, swamped by the Biden border crisis, are expected to &#8220;look out for evidence people were victims of crimes,&#8221; even if the migrant in question has not yet applied for protection. Agents will have to offer the migrants &#8220;information on visa applications and guidance on reporting their crimes to law enforcement agencies,&#8221; per Forbes.
“When victims have access to humanitarian protection, regardless of their immigration status, and can feel safe in coming forward, it strengthens the ability of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, including ICE, to detect, investigate, and prosecute crimes,” the ICE directive said.
Witnesses in ongoing criminal investigations will bypass deportation.
There are exceptions to the new guidance. An illegal migrant who is a victim of crime may be detained or deported if they are &#8220;deemed a national security risk or could physically endanger somebody else.&#8221;
Months ago, President Joe Biden tapped Vice President Kamala Harris to handle the border crisis amid enormous backlash. Still, the porous border continues to be a threat to the U.S. and a humanitarian issue.
There is also the issue of COVID-19. As cities and states start to tighten lockdown restrictions over supposed virus precaution, two government officials confirmed a 40% positive Covid infection rate from migrants crossing the Mexico/Texas border, <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/texas-city-officials-40-of-migrants-test-positive-for-covid-19">according</a> to the Washington Examiner:
<blockquote>Since late spring, Border Patrol officials in the Rio Grande Valley region have transported thousands of migrant families to Laredo because shelters were less inundated than those in McAllen. Migrants were immediately tested at the shelter upon being admitted. In that time, coronavirus positivity rates among migrants arriving in Laredo rose from 4% in April to 40% in August.</blockquote>
“That was very high,” said Laredo, Texas, Mayor Pete Saenz. The mayor has since refused to take migrants into his city.
&#8220;Concerned that migrants arriving in Laredo would further strain hospital resources, Laredo officials contracted private bus companies to transport migrants arriving from the Rio Grande Valley to larger cities across the state,&#8221; the report said. &#8220;By not admitting migrants on the McAllen buses, the city is not required to test them for the coronavirus and could forward the families elsewhere. Those who test positive cannot travel and must be quarantined for 10 days, a situation Saenz wanted to evade to avoid migrant overflow.&#8221;
The Examiner noted that the 40% infection rate figure is &#8220;the highest known positivity rate along the U.S.-Mexico border.&#8221; McAllen, Texas, last week, reported a 15% positivity rate among migrants released from custody.
</div>

TOPSHOT-MEXICO-HONDURAS-US-MIGRATION

ICE Won’t Detain, Deport Illegals Who Are Victims Of Crime As Biden Border Crisis Explodes

COVID

The number of immigrant detainees in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody has spiked in the last two weeks and numbers are now nearing levels not seen in more than a year, since the Trump administration was in charge of immigration policy.
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), which keeps track of the approximate number of immigrants in ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody, said this week that there are more than 27,000 illegal immigrants in ICE custody. Many of those detainees entered the system within the last two weeks.
&#8220;Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a non-partisan research organization at Syracuse University, reports that as of Thursday, 27,217 people were in custody at ICE detention centers, and there’s been a significant bump in the past two weeks,&#8221; <a href="https://www.borderreport.com/hot-topics/immigration/new-data-shows-ice-detention-of-migrants-returning-to-march-2020-levels/">Border Report</a>, an immigration news outlet, said Friday.
It is also the largest number of detentions since March of 2020 when the far stricter Trump White House-era anti-immigration policies were in full effect.
&#8220;The new TRAC data also found that 79% or 21,667 of the 27,217 being held in ICE detention facilities have no criminal record, and the majority have only minor offenses, including traffic violations,&#8221; the outlet continued, suggesting that the number of migrants in ICE custody indicates a rise in illegal immigration overall. Intercepted migrants are referred to ICE when a records search reveals any criminal activity.
The issue seems to predate the two-week spike, at least according to Buzzfeed News, which reported, last week, that the number of ICE detainees has only grown under President Joe Biden.
&#8220;The number of immigrants detained by ICE has grown significantly under the Biden administration, including those who have passed their initial asylum screenings, according to an analysis of government data by BuzzFeed News,&#8221; the outlet reported. &#8216;
The number of immigrants held in private prisons and local jails that sat partially empty during the pandemic has risen from 14,000 early this year to nearly 27,000 in June as key White House officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, have publicly discouraged people from trying to cross the border,&#8221; Buzzfeed News noted. &#8220;But within the administration, there is disagreement over whether ICE should be detaining people at the rate it has been.&#8221;
The prime concern seems to be &#8220;Title 42&#8243; &#8212; a provision that allows the Biden administration to detain, process, and expelled if they are deemed to be a risk for spreading COVID-19. Title 42 expedites what would be a much longer process, under the theory that CBP is far too overwhelmed with simply processing migrants to serve as a front-line defense during the pandemic.
With the pandemic nearing an end, however, and vaccination rates now over 50% in much of the country, immigration advocates say that Title 42 is no longer needed. Strangely, the Biden administration has yet to fully agree.
&#8221; U.S. President Joe Biden has frustrated allies by keeping in place a Trump-era border expulsion policy opposed by human rights activists and health experts, and has appeared to gain little politically as Republicans criticize his handling of the border,&#8221; <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-kept-trump-era-border-policy-place-that-was-mistake-allies-say-2021-07-07/">Reuters reported</a>.
Customs and Border Protection numbers, detailing precisely how many people have been apprehended trying to cross the border, are expected out next week.

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