(NewsSpace.com) – The United States has an immigration problem. President Joe Biden recently issued an executive order shutting down the southern border until daily crossings decline to 1,500 per day. However, that doesn’t mitigate the damage that has been done over the past few years. Now, a judge has demanded transparency from the US Department of Homeland Security.
Immigrants at Large
The Washington Times reported that in 2023, 2,572 immigrants were released into the US interior as part of the country’s special “parole” program. Normally, these migrants would be issued a summons and told when to appear in court again. However, that was not the case with this so-called test group. They were released and told to check in with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) within two months to receive a summons. That would put the final date by last summer. But 40% failed to comply.
It gets worse. Records show that one year on, 25 haven’t checked in at all. There are more than 300 that the federal agency hasn’t even issued a summons to. Of the test group, ICE said it can only confirm the whereabouts of 14. That leaves more than 99% thought to still be in the US. Approximately 340 of them haven’t been issued a Notice to Appear (NTA), something that ICE purports to be working on but is issuing at a rate of one per month. That means they’re not in deportation proceedings.
Judge Demands Transparency
Judge T. Kent Wetherell II, a US district judge who has consistently ruled against the Biden administration regarding immigration, is now demanding transparency. He has remained on top of ICE, demanding that the federal agency update him on the migrants released last May. While under his prodding, ICE has managed to track down some of the migrants, but the latest occurrences show that it doesn’t have a handle on all of them. And, that’s part of the immigration problem that the Biden administration is floundering under.
ICE currently has around 7 million people in its deportation system, approximately 2% of the US population. That’s a significant increase over the last six years. In 2018, it stood at 2.6 million. At the end of former President Donald Trump’s administration, it was 3.3 million. Now, it has more than doubled, proving that the border policies are something the federal government needs to get under control.
While some have been ordered removed, many have been defying those orders, and others are waiting for a court to rule on their cases.
Copyright 2024, NewsSpace.com
