For nine consecutive years, and perhaps longer, the federal government released a report detailing how many illegal immigrants were caught and removed from the country before the end of the calendar year.
Then along came the Biden administration.
As the Washington Free Beacon reported last week, the Biden administration has not offered the report, and cannot say when it might be released – even as the southern border teems with illegal immigrants.
The Free Beacon noted that this is the second time Biden has failed to issue such a report in a timely manner. In November, the administration skirted federal law by not publicly releasing a review of how many visa holders stayed in the country past their deadline to leave – a number that had been routinely provided by the Obama and Trump administrations.
Now, Republicans in Congress are accusing Biden of a cover-up.
“During record-breaking levels of illegal immigration, DHS [Department of Homeland Security] and ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] have taken steps to dismantle interior enforcement operations that keep our communities safe from criminal aliens,” GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri told the Free Beacon.
“I’ve been calling for transparency into these radical policy changes for months. If ICE is intentionally hiding their annual report from the public, then it’s safe to assume it doesn’t show any improvement; it shows failure.”
Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas called it “shameful;” that Biden’s administration would “ignore their responsibility” to publish the report.
As Biden has helped create the worst border crisis in modern memory, Jackson said, “Biden is doing everything he can to cover it up.”
Refusing to release a potentially embarrassing report “is nothing more than a calculated attempt to minimize transparency and cover up their wrongdoings,” Jackson added.
Another Texas Republican, Rep. Mike McCaul, told the Free Beacon Biden’s behavior on this indicated “a lack of seriousness for the crisis they created at our southern border.”
“ICE’s interior enforcement is critical in protecting our communities from bad actors who slip through initial detection,” McCaul added. “With the crisis at the southern border, ICE’s presence is needed now more than ever to enforce our immigration laws.”
GOP Rep. Troy Nehls, also of Texas, added, “Before President Biden was even inaugurated, he was inviting people to swarm the southern border. On day one of his presidency he dismantled President Trump’s highly successful policies, and look at the results: nearly two million illegal crossings from over 100 different countries, more fentanyl deaths than car crashes, and rampant crime across the country.”
“The Biden administration is trying to hide their failure, but the American people are waking up,” Nehls continued. “They know we have a crisis at the southern border, they know this crisis is a direct result of President Biden’s policies, and they will voice their concern at the polls in 2022.”
The Free Beacon noted the report is more than just deportation statistics.
For instance, in its last report in December 2020, the Trump administration also “summarized results from operations related to stopping COVID-19 relief fund abuse. In fiscal year 2020, ICE and its law enforcement partners seized more than $18 million linked to pandemic-related fraud and criminal activity.”
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