In the latest of countless scandals involving the Biden administration’s failure to secure the border, over half a million illegal aliens with criminal histories are roaming freely in the United States, 435,719 with convictions and another 226,847 with pending charges. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), created after 9/11 to protect the country from another terrorist attack, has released the foreign criminals in cities around the U.S., according to the Deputy Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the DHS agency charged with “enforcing immigration laws to preserve national security and public safety.” In figures reluctantly provided to Congress ICE’s second in command, Patrick Lechleitner, reveals that as of July 21, 2024 662,566 noncitizens with criminal histories are on the agency’s “non-detained docket” and therefore roaming freely throughout the country. The data is “beyond disturbing,” said the Texas congressman, Republican Tony Gonzales, who forced DHS to provide the records.
Nearly 15,000 of the freed illegal aliens have been convicted of or charged with murder, more than 20,000 with sexual assault, 60,268 with burglary, larceny, or robbery, 105,146 with assault, 16,820 with weapon offenses, 3,971 with commercialized sex crimes and 3,372 with kidnapping. Over 126,000 have committed traffic offenses, more than 70,000 are in the system for drug crimes, 21,106 for fraudulent activities and 12,000 for obstruction of justice. “Under President Biden and his ‘border czar,’ Vice President Harris, DHS law enforcement has been directed to mass-release illegal aliens whom they know have criminal convictions or are facing charges for serious crimes—and these dangerous, destructive individuals are making their way into every city and state in this country,” said Tennessee Congressman Mark E. Green, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security that recently exposed the alarming DHS stats. “How many more Americans need to die or be victimized before this administration is forced to abide by the laws they swore to uphold? This is madness. It is something no civilized, well-functioning society should tolerate.”
Lechleitner explains to federal lawmakers that his agency uses a few guidelines to determine detentions and notes that “most noncitizens who are convicted of homicide are typically not eligible for release from ICE custody” under a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act. When that measure does not apply, ICE officers may use their discretion in making custody determinations and release noncitizens with conditions, the Deputy Director says, adding that custody determinations are made on a case-by-case basis and take into account individual circumstances, risk of flight, national security threat and threat to public safety. “ICE takes other factors into consideration as well, including when a noncitizen has a serious medical condition, is the primary caregiver of minor children, or other humanitarian considerations,” Lechleitner writes in the letter with the latest criminal alien statistics. He also blasts local sanctuary districts that refuse to honor ICE detainer requests, even for illegal aliens convicted of serious felonies who pose an ongoing threat to public safety.
While detrimental to immigration enforcement, local sanctuary measures alone cannot be blamed for the release of hundreds of thousands of criminal aliens into unsuspecting American communities. It is simply part of the Biden administration’s expansive open border policies, which have welcomed a record-breaking number—over 7 million and counting—of illegal immigrants into the country. Just a few weeks ago, the House Homeland Security Committee released an eye-popping report documenting the Biden-Harris administration’s unprecedented border crisis, which has allowed droves of violent gang members, Islamic terrorists, tens of thousands of Chinese nationals and a myriad of criminals into the country. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is on pace to record more than 11.6 million illegal immigrant encounters by the end of the Biden administration, an astounding 274% increase from the 3.1 million encounters recorded between fiscal years 2017 to 2020, according to figures in the congressional report. That does not even include around 2 million known “gotaways” that have entered the nation under this administration.
