Fewer than 3o,000 illegal aliens were deported in the fiscal year 2022 despite a record-breaking number of border-crossers, Breitbart reported. Moreover, some 23,000 of those deported were convicted criminals suggesting there may be many more who slipped through unimpeded.
These grim figures come from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a report released by President Joe Biden's Department of Homeland Security over the holiday weekend. They reveal declining enforcement compared to previous years between 2017 and 2019.
During those years, ICE was deporting 8,000 illegal immigrants per month. Now that figure is down to only 2,350 monthly, and most of those are people already settled in communities rather than new border crossers.
Troublingly, the number of convicted criminals being deported has declined compared to previous years. For instance, 73,000 criminal illegal aliens were deported in FY 2018, which means ICE removed 68% fewer foreign criminals from the interior of the U.S. this year.
This could mean fewer criminals have entered the country, or, more likely, they're simply allowing an untold number to slip through. Moreover, the decrease in deportations represents a small number of the estimated 11 and 22 million illegal immigrants already in the nation.
In absolute numbers, the 2022 data shows that just 28,000 -- representing 0.3% of the total illegal immigrant population -- have been deported. The current figures represent a whopping 70% decline overall in the number of illegal immigrants deported by the Biden administration.
There is clearly something wrong with the way the Biden administration is handling the problem, and some Republican lawmakers believe it is intentional. Led by Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), members of the Senate held a press conference late last month on the issue, Fox News reported.
Lankford noted that there was nearly 5000,000 border crossing every two months, whereas the 2010s saw that number in a full year. In response, he and the other lawmakers urged the administration to extend Title 42.
The Trump-era provision allows for deportations and limits illegal immigration due to public health concerns. However, Title 42 faced legal challenges after Biden sought to nix it, lending credence to the senators' argument.
"It is becoming harder and harder not to conclude that the border crisis is intentional. I mean, nobody is this incompetent, right?" Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said.
"The Biden administration's position on Title 42, on the Remain in Mexico program … none of the president's positions on this make any sense to me unless I view it from the perspective of, well, maybe he wants this to happen," Kennedy added. The Remain in Mexico policy, which forced migrants back to Mexico while their asylum requests were processed, was also on the chopping block when Biden took office.
"I confess it is a mystery to me," Kennedy said. "Nobody is this incompetent. It has to be intentional," he added.
Even Democrats like Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas and Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia are acknowledging the problem that Biden has created. "We have a crisis of the border. Everyone can see that," Manchin said.
Biden can ignore the problem, but that won't change the proof in the numbers. This is a crisis of huge proportions, and the blame for it is undeniably at the president's feet.
