WASHINGTON—Heritage visiting fellows and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) veterans Tom Homan and Mark Morgan responded Friday to the release of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) annual report for fiscal year 2021, which showed a historic drop in the number of deportations under the Biden administration’s open-borders regime. The report, which DHS had delayed releasing for months, showed ICE removed a mere 59,011 illegal aliens in fiscal year 2021, with a large chunk of those coming under the Trump administration:
Tom Homan, former acting ICE director and Heritage visiting fellow: “The Biden administration is actively working against the men and women of federal law enforcement, and especially those working every day to secure our border. From day one, this administration has pushed policies that have made it effectively impossible to detain or deport around 90% of the illegal aliens currently in the United States, while at the same time releasing tens of thousands of illegal aliens into the country in the past year. President Biden is essentially following the lead of radical leftists who are calling to abolish ICE—only he is doing so under the guise of DHS policies and procedures. Congress needs to get serious about investigating the Biden administration’s open-borders policies, and those who pushing this radical agenda that endangers our communities and makes a mockery of our laws.”
Mark Morgan, former acting U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) commissioner and Heritage visiting fellow: “The Biden administration has turned the United States into a sanctuary country, plain and simple. This president has sent a message to the world that if you illegally cross our sovereign border, you will likely be released into the interior of the United States, and once you’re here, immigration officials are not allowed to remove you, even if you skip your court date or commit a crime. This is another example of the feckless leadership by the Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who acts more like a social activist rather than the man responsible for protecting our homeland. Mayorkas needs to go. There must be accountability for this willful undermining of American interests.”
BACKGROUND: The Biden administration delayed, again and again, getting this data to the American people. These numbers further incriminating this administration’s border security negligence were conveniently held until after the State of the Union, when the president laughably suggested he would secure the border. Heritage’s Conservative Oversight Project is investigating this delay.
