Criminal Aliens Released to Make Room for Surge that Never Came

DHS released over 1,100 criminal illegal aliens from detention in December in hopes of making room for the border surge expected after the end of Title 42 – the public health order which remains in place due to a court order.

According to the Washington Times, “deportation officers said they were told to stop making arrests and clear space for the impact expected with a change in a pandemic border policy.”

The data comes from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who said they released 515 aliens with criminal convictions and 641 who faced criminal charges.

The Washington Times continues:

Officers said the releases were tied to the Title 42 pandemic border policy, which under a court order was supposed to disappear just before Christmas. The Homeland Security Department said already record levels of border chaos could triple, and they were clearing space out of ICE facilities to try to hold some of the most egregious border violators.

Title 42 was kept in place by the Supreme Court while it continues to consider the arguments to either repeal or keep the policy in place. Nevertheless, the expected surge never arrived at the border.

R.J. Hauman, head of government relations at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, stated that the lack of the expected surge made the releases even more frustrating. Hauman added:

What they did in December in anticipation of the Title 42 ruling that never came down was yet another act of enforcement theater that jeopardizes public safety and the integrity of our system.

Unfortunately, the criminals released in December are just a fraction of the total illegal aliens released that month. In December, the Biden Admin. released 20,279 illegal aliens in total, up more than 80% from the release average of October and November.

According to the agency, ICE has two distinct types of alien releases from detention. One option is if a judge or ICE itself bonds out the alien. The other option is a discretionary release by ICE on either the alien’s own recognizance, an order of supervision, or through the DHS Secretary’s power of parole.

The Washington Times concludes,

Bond releases of criminals were up just 10% in December, but ICE’s discretionary releases of criminals rose 66%.

In addition to cutting criminals loose, ICE stopped pursuing new targets in the field.

One ICE officer said his region was instructed not to make any further arrests because of a lack of detention space.

You can read the complete article here.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/jan/25/dhs-released-1100-criminals-detention-december/