The Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas acknowledged that 600,000 immigrants “escaped” from the Border Patrolthat is, they managed to cross the border irregularly, according to their latest report.
Although the official responded that way in a Senate hearing on fiscal year 2023, it is not clear if it corresponds to that year or 2022, according to a report from the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
This report indicates that The entry of undocumented immigrants increased by 303% between 2019 and 2022.
Senator Roger Marshall (Kansas) asked Mayorkas at a Homeland Security Committee hearing how many people had “escaped” Customs and Border Protection (CBP) registration in fiscal year 2023.
The so-called “gotaways” or “Escapers” refers to undocumented immigrants who evade Border Patrolbut they are detected with some type of surveillance, whether video or because the agents see people fleeing.
“I believe, Senator, that number exceeds 600,000 and, as I am sure you know, the escape phenomenon has been a challenge for the Department of Homeland Security for decades,” Mayorkas acknowledged.
The Office of the Inspector General’s report, published in May 2023, breaks down the “leaks” from 2019 to 2022. Fiscal year 2023 began in October 2022 and ended in September 2023, so it is not clear that those data is updated.
In fiscal year 2019, 150,090 leaks were reported; In fiscal year 2021, 389,155 were registered, which represents an increase of 159 percent.
“In fiscal year 2022, CBP recorded more than 600,000 leaks. At one southwestern border station, 15 percent (24 of 156) of escapes over a five-day period occurred because agents were not available to respond,” the agency said.
A highlight of the report points out that the growth in entry of undocumented immigrants, after escaping from the Border Patrol, increased 303% from 2019 to 2022.
Republicans in the House of Representatives have criticized President Joe Biden’s administration due to the increase in immigrants at the border, but do not address the reasons for this immigration.
In a report that the Judiciary Committee, chaired by Republican Jim Jordan (Ohio), shared with Fox News in early October, it warned of a “border crisis” that would have forced agents to avoid arrests.
“Due to the unprecedented border crisis, some Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have been forced to abandon arrests and removals of aliens, including criminal aliens, to process illegal aliens who have arrived at the southwest border.” , the report states.
Concerns for agents
The report from the DHS Inspector General highlights that border agents are overwhelmed by activity on the border with Mexico, in addition to considering that they assumed responsibilities that took them away from their law enforcement duties.
“Nearly half of CBP personnel who completed our survey (3,007 of 6,093) indicated that, from their perspective, they were required to take on responsibilities outside of their normal workplace duties,” the report states.
20% of officers surveyed said they felt unable to perform their primary law enforcement duties to secure the border.
“One of our duties is the detention and processing of non-citizen immigrants, which is what almost all of our manpower is being delegated to do,” says a Border Patrol agent quoted in the report. “This prevents us from doing the other part of the duties/responsibilities that we were contracted to do, which is to deter or apprehend people who have committed illegal entry into the United States.”
In his request for funds from Congress of $106 billion, mainly for aid to Ukraine and Israel, President Biden contemplates more than $13 billion for border security.
Those funds would be to hire 1,300 additional Border Patrol agents, in addition to 1,000 police officers with anti-drug investigation capabilities.
The plan also includes 1,600 asylum officers to increase by 2.5 times the number of staff who interview and adjudicate applications.
Deportations advance
This newspaper published that the Biden Administration maintains deportations following the guidance authorized by the Supreme Court, but the majority of expulsions are of new undocumented immigrants.
According to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency’s own statistics, from May to September 2023 the agency had deported about 300,000 people.
Of that number, at least 45,000 corresponded to family units without a legal basis for stay in the United States.
The deportation guidance reported in September 2021 by Secretary Mayorkas states that all undocumented immigrants who entered the country after November 1, 2020 would be deported.
Keep reading:
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