While the Biden administration is touting a decrease of migrant encounters at the southern border, thousands continue to cross and get released into the interior of the country, according to internal Border Patrol data obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Tuesday that illegal migrant encounters have fallen by more than 70% since the lifting of Title 42, the Trump-era expulsion order used during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the internal data show that hundreds of illegal migrants are being released into the interior of the country with court dates each day. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Former Trump Official To Testify Biden Admin Ignored Immigration Laws In Handling Of Border Crisis)
The Biden administration has also expanded its use of CBP One, an app that lets migrants schedule appointments to enter the U.S. via ports of entry, to allow roughly 40,000 entries per month. That’s in addition to the releases of illegal immigrants. There is also a program granting humanitarian parole allowing 30,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to enter the country per month for a period of two years if they have a U.S. sponsor.
The Department of Homeland Security says that illegal encounters at the southern border have averaged 3,400 per day since May 12.
Thursday alone, Border Patrol released 1,147 illegal immigrants, most of whom crossed the southern border, into the country with their court dates, according to the internal data. Agents have been releasing between 1,000-2,000 illegal immigrants per day, a border agent working along the southern border, who requested anonymity because they’re not authorized to speak publicly, told the DCNF.
“Senior Border Patrol management is too busy patting themselves on the back for keeping sector capacity numbers down at the cost of releasing 1,000-2,000 illegal migrants into the interior of the U.S. each day,” the agent said.
Internal Border Patrol document (Jennie Taer//Daily Caller News Foundation)
Each day, roughly 4,470 migrants on average are coming illegally and through the CBP One process combined, according to DHS.
Blas Nuñez-Neto, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary for Border and Immigration Policy, Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans, testified that the new programs are “working” during a Tuesday House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement hearing.
“We are cognizant, however, that the conditions in the hemisphere that are driving unprecedented movements of people are still present and that the cartels and coyotes will continue to spread disinformation about any potential changes to policies at the border in order to put migrants’ lives at risk for profit. We will remain vigilant and continue to execute our plan, making adjustments where needed,” Nuñez-Neto added.
Despite what the Biden administration is saying, the subcommittee’s Republican chairman, Clay Higgins, said it’s conducting a “shell game” during Tuesday’s hearing.
“Despite what Secretary Mayorkas and other officials at DHS are advising the American public regarding the numbers being down, what we’ve come to observe is rather a shell game in the way numbers are actually documented and reported,” Higgins said.
“The numbers of human beings crossing into America without appropriate documentation are indeed still at the record levels that we saw prior to the end of Title 42, but the classification of those human beings and the way they’re brought into the country has been very cleverly changed by the administration,” Higgins said.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.