An internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report shows the federal department only nabs just over half of illegal immigrants crossing the border.
DHS caught 54 percent of illegal immigrants in fiscal year 2015, according to the internal report finished in May, and is not publicly available. DHS has publicly claimed that they successfully catch 81 percent of illegal immigrants.
A government official on the condition of anonymity gave the report to the Associated Press Thursday. “DHS does not believe it is in the public interest to release, and it would be irresponsible to make policy or other judgments on the basis of analysis that is incomplete and remains a work in progress,” DHS spokeswoman Marsha Catron said to the Associated Press, despite the report being completed in May.
DHS failed to catch 170,000 illegal immigrants in FY 2015. When adding in the number of people who got away with false identities at border crossings as well as those that came into the U.S. by sea, 200,000 illegal immigrants actually got into the U.S. for the past fiscal year.
In FY 2015, 140,000 asylum seekers showed up on the U.S. border, in contrast with a mere 20,000 10 years ago. Illegal immigration has been a major issue in the 2016 presidential campaign, especially for GOP nominee Donald Trump.
Trump was endorsed by major unions, including Customs Border Patrol and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) employees. The candidate has proposed building a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico and finding ways to get Mexico to pay for it.
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