(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) A recent report from Immigration and Customs Enforcement revealed that the entity did not issue summonses to over 80% of the illegal immigrants released under President Joe Biden’s “parole” program, according to the Daily Wire.
After apprehending the illegals, ICE agents instructed them to check in within 60 days and released them on “parole.” More than 40% of encountered migrants did not check in.
The majority of those who arrived for check-in faced dismissal without receiving notices to appear in immigration court.
The Biden administration claimed the original parole system was a temporary measure put in place to accommodate the influx of illegals after it fought in court to end the Trump administration’s Title 42 protections.
More than 2,500 illegals went free after Title 42, a COVID emergency rule that streamlined the deportation process, expired on May 11.
Of those released, only 1,507 checked in with ICE by the deadline, and only 464 of those received a notice to appear in court.
That means the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, effectively lost track of 2,108 of the paroled illegal immigrants.
“These statistics are troubling to say the least,” District Judge T. Kent Wetherell of Florida wrote Tuesday. “But even more troubling is the fact that DHS apparently does not have a plan in place to track down the aliens who are in violation of the conditions of their ‘parole’—and, thus, unlawfully in the country.”
Biden administration officials claimed “limited agency resources” kept them from issuing summonses.
“DHS maintains its commitment that individuals have an obligation to comply with requirements imposed by DHS, and ICE is prepared to take such actions as may be required to ensure that individuals who were released pending the initiation of their immigration court proceedings comply with the terms of their release,” a Justice Department lawyer said.
Wetherell expressed skepticism of the Biden administration’s desire to seek out the migrants.
Over the last two years the Biden administration allowed at least 541,000 illegal immigrants into the country via the parole authority. Illegal immigrants do not need visas in this process.
The administration also tampered with the illegal-immigrant apprehension numbers to make it seem as if the problem was under control.
“The number of illegal and inadmissible aliens coming into the country is still just as high, but the administration is using a shell game and sending people through ports of entry instead of between ports of entry, and then declaring that an improvement on the border,” said Lora Ries, director of the Border Security and Immigration Center at the Heritage Foundation.
