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One of the most common questions that I regularly get is How many illegal migrants has President Biden released? I have run the numbers, and its at least 2,020,522. I promise to show my math, but the real total is likely hundreds of thousands more, plus 1,373,155 others who evaded Border Patrol agents, all thanks to the presidents catch and release policies.

Disclosures in Texas v. Biden. Most of the information publicly available on President Bidens migrant releases comes from Texas v. Biden, a case filed by the states of Texas and Missouri in April 2021 to force DHS to reimplement the Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), better known as Remain in Mexico.

By way of background, MPP was a program implemented in January 2019 by then-DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, which allowed CBP to return other than Mexican migrants (OTMs) caught entering illegally back to Mexico to await their removal hearings.

Although MPP was not in full effect until summer 2019, nearly 70,000 OTMs were returned across the border under the program during the Trump administration. When their hearing dates arrived, MPP enrollees were paroled in custody into the United States to appear before immigration judges at border port courts. If they were granted asylum, they were admitted into the United States; if asylum was denied, they were removed.

In its October 2019 assessment of the program, DHS determined that MPP was an indispensable tool in addressing the ongoing crisis at the southern border and restoring integrity to the immigration system, particularly as related to alien families. Asylum cases were expedited under the program and, as a consequence, MPP removed incentives for aliens to make weak or bogus claims when apprehended.

Despite the effectiveness (and indispensability) of MPP, one of President Bidens first actions after taking office was to suspend new enrollments in the program.

That prompted Texas and Missouri to file suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, where it was assigned to Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk. Despite the pendency of that matter, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas formally terminated MPP in June 2021.

Two months-plus later, in August, Judge Kacsmaryk enjoined Mayorkas attempted termination of MPP.

More saliently for purpose of this analysis, however, and to ensure compliance with his order, the judge directed DHS, by September 15, 2021, and the 15th of each month thereafter, to file a report with the court that included the total number of applicants for admission encountered by CBP at the Southwest border who were paroled into the United States, as well as the number of such aliens released into the United States, paroled or otherwise.

As of June 15, 2022, those disclosures revealed that under the Biden administration, CBP both Border Patrol agents and CBP officers in the agencys Office of Field Operations (OFO) at the ports and ICE had released 1,049,532 Southwest border migrants into the United States.

Note that those nearly 1.05 million migrants were released from DHS custody despite the fact that section 235(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) mandates that all such aliens be detained until they are formally admitted, granted asylum or some other relief from removal, or removed.

On June 30, 2022, the Supreme Court vacated Judge Kacsmaryks order and sent Texas to the lower courts for consideration of Mayorkas second attempt to terminate MPP (issued in October 2021, while the judges order was on appeal to the Fifth Circuit). The justices, however, did not issue their final judgment in the case until August 1.

Consequently, on July 15, DHS filed its last disclosure in Texas (for the month of June 2022), reporting to Judge Kacsmaryk that CBP and ICE released 79,652 Southwest border migrants in June. That brought Bidens total Southwest border migrant release tally to 1,129,184.

After that, however, the court-ordered disclosures in Texas stopped.

Florida v. U.S. and Border Patrol Releases. As Anna Diakun from the Knight First Amendment Institute noted at the start of the second year of the current administration:

On President Joe Biden's first day in office, White House press secretary Jen Psaki pledged that the administration would "bring transparency and truth back to government." While the administration took some initial steps toward fulfilling this pledge, it has simply failed to act on a number of transparency issues. Worse, the administration seems to be embracing the opaque and undemocratic policies of its predecessors on a few other fronts.

Immigration is likely the least transparent front of the Biden administration, and nothing underscores that fact like the presidents refusal to disclose statistics on migrant releases at the Southwest border.

Want proof? In March 2021, the state of Florida filed suit in U.S. district court (ironically in the Sunshine State), challenging the Biden administrations migrant release policies, in a case captioned Florida v. U.S.

The case involved a massive discovery effort, which included depositions of both U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz and ICE Executive Associate Director for Enforcement and Removal Operations Corey Price.

And yet, in his March 8 opinion in Florida, presiding Judge T. Kent Wetherell II exasperatedly explained:

Since President Biden took office on January 20, 2021, [Border Patrol] has released more than one million aliens at the Southwest Border. That figure does not include releases by OFO because OFO does not publicly report its releases, nor does it include releases by ICE because ICE does not distinguish between interior enforcement and border enforcement in its publicly released data. [Emphasis added.]

At least, as Judge Wetherell alluded to, Border Patrol does provide statistics on its Southwest border migrant releases, on yearly CBP web pages captioned Custody and Transfer Statistics.

For FY 2022, that page reveals that between July (the month after the last disclosures in Texas) and September 2022, Border Patrol agents released 70,212 illegal migrants with Notices to Appear (NTAs) on their own recognizance (OR), and an additional 166,158 on parole under section 212(d)(5)(A) of the INA with alternatives to detention, or ATD (identified as Parole+ATD). That brings the total for Border Patrol Southwest border migrant releases during that three-month period at the end of FY 2022 to 236,370, and the grand total not counting OFO and ICE releases to 1,365,554.

The Custody and Transfer Statistics FY2023 web page shows that between October 2022 and February 2023 (the latest reporting month), Border Patrol agents released 79,671 Southwest border migrants on NTA/OR, and an additional 295,037 others on Parole+ATD, for a five-month total of 374,708.

Between the Border Patrol, OFO, and ICE disclosures in Texas and the Border Patrol Custody and Transfer Statistics numbers, but not including OFO and ICE releases after June 30, 2022, the total number of illegal migrants encountered by CBP at the Southwest border and released into the United States since Joe Biden became president therefore is 1,740,262.

Unaccompanied Alien Children. In its monthly disclosures in Texas, DHS made clear that it was not including release statistics for unaccompanied alien children (UACs):

This report does not include data on unaccompanied alien children (UCs), as defined in 6 U.S.C. 279(g), who the Court recognized are not amenable to MPP, ECF No. 94 at 9, and who are subject to special processing and are transferred to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Custody pursuant to the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. See 8 U.S.C. 1232(a)(5)(D), 1232(b)(3), 1232(c)(2)(A), 1232(c)(3); see also CBP, Southwest Border Encounters, https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/ southwest-land-border-encounters (providing statistics on UCs encountered by CBP).

Let me explain.

By definition, an unaccompanied alien child is an alien under the age of 18 who has no lawful immigration status and with respect to whom ... there is no parent or legal guardian in the United States; or ... no parent or legal guardian in the United States is available to provide care and physical custody. Thats the reference to 6 U.S.C. 279(g) above.

The Homeland Security Act (HSA), which abolished the former INS and created DHS, created the concept of UACs as a separate alien group and vested jurisdiction for the housing and placement of UACs who are in removal proceedings with the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS, also referenced above).

At the beginning, however, there werent a lot of UACs for ORR to deal with. According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), in the early 2000s DHS only encountered about 6,700 UACs annually, placed into removal proceedings, and referred to ORR.

That all changed beginning in late 2008 when Democrats in Congress passed an extremely problematic law (that even President Obama didnt like), the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA, again referred to in the excerpt above).

Under TVPRA, DHS must transfer all UACs in its custody from non-contiguous countries (that is, every country other than Canada and Mexico) over to ORR within 72 hours of encounter, for placement with sponsors in the United States even if they have not been trafficked and do not have asylum claims.

That 2008 act has subsequently served as a magnet drawing minors to enter illegally. By FY 2012, three fiscal years after the TVPRA was passed, Border Patrol apprehended more than 24,400 UACs at the Southwest border, a figure that climbed to 38,750 in FY 2013 and 68,500 in FY 2014.

And, not surprisingly, given that TVPRA offers preferential treatment to UACs who arent from Mexico or Canada, the number and percentage of UACs apprehended at the border from non-contiguous countries has skyrocketed. According to CRS:

In FY2009 ... children from Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) represented 82% and 17%, respectively, of the 19,668 UAC apprehensions that year. By FY2021 [when nearly 145,000 UACs were apprehended at the Southwest border], those proportions had flipped, with Mexican and Northern Triangle children respectively representing 18% and 77% of all UAC apprehensions.

Since February 2021, Border Patrol has apprehended 277,383 UACs from non-contiguous countries at the Southwest border, and OFO has encountered an additional 2,877 UACs at the ports of entry there 280,260 in total.

That said, this figure may be low, because HHS reports in a March 28 fact sheet that 251,635 UACs were referred to ORR in FY 2021 and FY 2022, a figure that would not include the 46,212 non-contiguous UACs encountered by CBP at the Southwest border in FY 2023.

In any event, as of the date that fact sheet was released, HHS only had approximately 7,994 UACs in its custody, and the department explains that UACs were only spending, on average, 25 days in ORR custody before they were placed with "sponsors" (often their illegal-alien parents or other relatives already in the U.S., who paid to have the children smuggled in the first place). Thus, nearly all, if not all, of those UACs encountered at the Southwest border by the end of February have already been released into the United States.

The Grand Total. On the low side, the Biden administration has released at least 2,020,522 illegal migrants encountered by CBP at the Southwest border into the United States more people than reside in 13 U.S. states, or roughly 35,631 migrants more than the combined populations of Dallas, Texas, (1,259,404) and Seattle, Wash. (725,487).

That figure doesnt include the 1,373,155 illegal migrants who were detected entering illegally but who successfully evaded agents at the Southwest border under Biden, known colloquially as got-aways; at least 385,000 in FY 2023, according to Chief Ortiz; 599,000 in FY 2022; and 389,155 in FY 2021.

Add them in, and you are now at 3,393,677, again not counting the unknown (and hidden) number of migrants released by OFO after June 30, 2022, or aliens transferred by CBP at the Southwest border to ICE and released after that date. Thats just 375,808 fewer people than live in Los Angeles, Americas second-largest city. Add in the unknowns, and the migrant total likely exceeds LAs population.

I am just focusing on what I know, and what I know is that thanks to Joe Bidens feckless and according to Judge Wetherell, at least oft-illegal border policies, there are now at least 2,020,522 new migrants, encountered by CBP at the Southwest border and released into the United States, here. And they will likely be here indefinitely, if not forever.

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Biden's Released at Least 2,020,522 Southwest Border Migrants - Immigration Blog

Ali Bradley and Devan Markham

10 hours ago

TEMPE, Ariz.(NewsNation) Three law enforcement officials at the southern border are running for Congress, hoping their decades of experience can lead to better immigration policies.

The border battle has been playing out in their backyards for years now and they have been vocal, but with migrant encounter numbers surging once again and law enforcement bracing for the end of Title 42, Terrell County Texas Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland, Retired ICE/HSI Special Agent Victor Avila and Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb are gearing up to take the fight to the halls of Congress.

Theyve told NewsNation that theyre frustrated with the lack of support from the Biden administration in what theyre calling a border crisis.

Weve lived it. Weve seen it. We know what works and what doesnt work, Thaddeus Cleveland said.

And these men dont plan to play political games, they said theyre out for change.

I think carrying that badge of honor, if you will, what weve done to protect lives, to protect the innocent, will continue on a bigger scale, Cleveland said.

Cleveland has been living and breathing border protection for nearly three decades, but the retired Border Patrol chief has been vocal about the issues as sheriff, talking exclusively with NewsNation about what a run for Congress might look like.

I really feel like were not being represented like we need to be represented in Washington, D.C. And due to that, Ive launched an exploratory committee for the 23rd congressional district, Cleveland said.

Republican Tony Gonzales is currently the representative for that district, which happens to be the largest in Texas. The district has been the epicenter of the immigration crisis as Del Rio, Eagle Pass and part of El Paso are all within District 23.

U.S. Customs and Border Protections latest report showed migrant encounters were currently on pace to beat last years nationwide encounters record of more than 2.7 million.

Im a big, big believer in law and order and public safety. Im for legal immigration, I want people to come to this country legally. But theres a right way in the right path to do that, Victor Avila said.

Avila was also on the frontlines, as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigation special agent who saw a different side of the border literally. He worked in Mexico, investigating the cartels.

Like Cleveland, Avila is vying for Gonzales 23rd district seat.

I was always frustrated in my career, like, why is there somebody like me, there in D.C. that knows making these incredible decisions that affect everybody? Well, I want to be that person, Avila said.

In Arizona, another sheriff is throwing his hat in the run for Congress.

Washington needs a new sheriff in town, Lamb said in his campaign video.

For the last seven years, Mark Lamb has been Pinal Countys sheriff, and now, hes running for Arizona Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinemas seat.

I think all Americans should consider this the fight of their lives. Clearly, this is a fight that Im in. But Im honored to take it upon myself on behalf of the people of Arizona, on behalf of my family, Lamb said.

Lamb created multiple specialized units to target human and drug smuggling running rampant in his county, which sits roughly 50 miles from the border.

He said he would work to implement similar programs on a national level.

The border crisis is affecting all of us, regardless of what party you are. All of these issues that were dealing with as a country are affecting all of us equally. And we need somebody thats going to go fight for that a proven conservative fight or somebody thats been doing it for a while, Lamb said.

All three candidates confirmed to NewsNation that they feel designating cartels as terrorist organizations, as many Republican lawmakers are pushing for, is needed and a step in the right direction to fight the flow of fentanyl.

Devan Markham contributed to this report.

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Border crisis sparks new wave of congressional candidates - NewsNation Now

New York Citys welfare agency failed to process more than three-fourths of all food stamp applications filed in December within a 30-day timeframe mandated by state law, a top official in Mayor Adams administration said Wednesday.

Jill Berry, first deputy commissioner of the Department of Social Services, disclosed the food stamp timeliness rate during a City Council hearing, showing her agency processed just 19.2% of all applications submitted in the last month of 2022 within 30 days.

A sign alerting customers about SNAP food stamps benefits is displayed at a Brooklyn grocery store on Dec. 5, 2019. (Scott Heins/Getty Images)

Since the December low, Berry testified that her agency has rebounded.

In February, the latest month for which data is available, her agencys Human Resources Administration processed 49.9% of food stamp applications within the 30-day window, she testified.

While on the right track, Berry said, We still have ways to go.

That is not where we want to be, she told Council members of the February rate, but it is a huge amount of progress since December, and we are continuing to make progress.

Adams preliminary management report, released in February, set as a goal for the administration to achieve a 90.6% food stamp processing timeliness rate by July 1, the end of this fiscal year. By comparison, the food stamp processing rate as of this past October was 42.3%, according to the preliminary management report.

Mayor Eric Adams (Luiz C. Ribeiro/for New York Daily News)

The administrations incremental progress comes as food stamp application processing has emerged as a crisis for the citys most vulnerable residents.

Due to the processing delays, thousands of low-income New Yorkers have had to wait for months on end to receive their food stamps, officially called SNAP benefits. The benefits, which are typically uploaded on debit cards, can award a household of three upward of $740 to spend on groceries.

As first reported by the Daily News, a group of local SNAP recipients filed a class action lawsuit against the Adams administration in January, alleging it is violating state and federal laws by failing to process their benefits on time. In the suit, they recounted stories of having to skip meals or only eat potatoes for days due to the processing delays.

The processing hiccups have been attributed to a sharp uptick in food stamp applications during the pandemic and steep staff shortages in the Human Resources Administration ranks.

In Wednesdays hearing, Berry testified her agency is moving in the right direction because it has been able to fill a significant number of vacancies in recent months. She said there are currently 815 eligibility specialists on the agencys payroll working exclusively with processing of SNAP and other low-income benefits, like cash assistance.

(Shutterstock)

Berrys testimony comes as the mayor and Democrats in the City Council remain at loggerheads over next fiscal years municipal budget.

The mayor has rolled out budget-cutting measures or Programs to Eliminate the Gap, as he calls them that would rein in spending at virtually all city agencies, including the Human Resources Administration. Citing concern about the citys fiscal health driven by the local migrant crisis, the mayors preliminary budget bid also proposed lowering funding levels for the Human Resources Administration.

Council Democrats have vehemently opposed the proposed cuts, arguing the city can afford to fund social safety net programs and care for the tens of thousands of migrants who have arrived since last spring.

In tandem with Wednesdays hearing, members of the Councils Progressive Caucus gathered in City Hall Park for a rally against the mayors budgetary vision.

We reject this mayors defunding of our social safety net infrastructure, Brooklyn Councilwoman Shahana Hanif, co-chair of the caucus, said at the rally. He is defunding safety.

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NYC's on-time processing rate for food stamps hit 19% low in ... - New York Daily News

By Greg Heffer, Political Correspondent For Mailonline 14:43 19 Apr 2023, updated 16:32 19 Apr 2023

Rishi Sunak today jibed at Sir Keir Starmer over Welsh Government plans topay young asylum seekers 1,600 a month.

The Prime Minister claimed he was 'stopping the boats' while 'Labour is paying for them' as he highlighted his pledge to end the Channel migrant crisis.

He hit out at proposals by the Welsh Government,a Labour minority administration, to offer migrants a basic income and suggested it would 'incentivise' people smugglers.

Ministers in Cardiff have prompted a row with plans to allow young asylum seekers who settle in Wales access to a two-year basic income pilot designed for care leavers.

Mr Sunak addressed the issue during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons after he was asked whether his own Government would consider 'such a daft idea'.

Tory backbencher Chris Clarkson said: 'It has been reported that the Welsh Labour Government is going to incentivise people smugglers by offering 1,600 of taxpayers' money every month to asylum seekers.

'Can I ask him for an assurance that he will never contemplate such a daft idea?'

The PM replied that justice minister Lord Bellamy and Welsh Secretary David Davies yesterday wrote to the Welsh Government 'confirming that we would not be undertaking their request'.

In a dig at Sir Keir, Mr Sunak added: 'I note that the Labour leader has said that the Welsh Labour Government is his blueprint.

'Labour in Wales are trying to pay illegal migrants 1,600. We are stopping the boats, Labour is paying for them.'

Mr Davies had earlier told the Commons, during Welsh Questions, it was 'extraordinary' to offer universal basic income to asylum seekers.

'The humanitarian response is to disincentivise people from risking their lives by crossing the Channel illegally and arriving here in small boats,' he told MPs.

'And that's why last night I jointly signed a letter which rejected what the Welsh Labour Government are asking for.

'We're not prepared to see the Welsh Labour Government handing out universal basic incomes to people who shouldn't be in this country in the first place.

'And then on top of that to provide them with legal funding and lawyers so that they can challenge the decision being made by the Government.

'These are not the priorities that the Welsh people have.'

Mr Davies and Lord Bellamy wrote toJane Hutt, the Welsh Government's social justice minister, yesterday to state that those enrolled in the pilot scheme would not be entitled to free legal aid.

It came after Welsh ministers had requested legal aid be granted to young people with active asylum claims who might be taking part in the pilot after leaving care.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: 'The basic income pilot scheme is about giving the most vulnerable people in our society a start in life.

'It is disappointing that inaccurate and misleading claims are being used to trivialise these sensitive issues.'

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Rishi Sunak jibes at Keir Starmer over Welsh Government plans to give asylum seekers 1,600 a month - Daily Mail

Walls should be built as a last resort, but if there is no other way to stop illegal immigration, we must be ready to build fences, said Manfred Weber, President of the European Peoples Party (EPP), praising the policies of the center-right Italian government in an interview published in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Monday. Contrary to some commentators recollections, in this point, there has never been a dispute between Weber and the Hungarian Prime Minister.

Manfred Weber said the European Union is facing another major migration crisis. He said that the EPP fully supports Rome in its efforts to ensure that no Member State is left alone in the face of the pressure of illegal migration and that the issue is at the forefront of European politics.

Weber added.

Photo: Facebook Frontex

The EPP President stressed that Europe is facing another migration crisis, in which we must be ready to build walls and fences to protect Europes borders. He said that, at the initiative of the EPP, an extraordinary debate would be held in the European Parliament in the coming days on the launch of solidarity measures for Italy, the country most affected by migration, and on the EU funding for the construction of fences to protect not only national borders but also common European borders.

Manfred Weber called the European Commissions package of migration measures presented in February premature, stressing that instead of promises repeated for years, the return of illegal immigrants to their countries of origin should be sped up because if an immigrant has no right to protection, he must return to his country of origin.Webers words come as the migratory pressure in Italy is reaching crisis levels. Since the beginning of the year, more than 33,000 people have arrived in the country, compared to less than 9,000 in the same period last year. There are currently more than 117,000 in camps in Italy.

Despite articles in the conservative press speaking about Manfred Webers u-turn regarding border fences against illegal mass migration, the EPP president has never been among the most vocal opponents of such measures. As far back as in 2015, he has defended the Hungarian governments decision to build a border fence against illegal migrants and people smugglers. More recently, Weber has called some European leaders naive for not understanding the need for a security fence on the EUs borders with Belarus.

Instead, the dispute between the EPP leader and Viktor Orbn stems from Webers allegations of populism, nationalism, euroscepticism, the case of George Soros Central European University, and his the EU is always right attitude. From the Hungarian government party, Fideszs point of view, the general complaint against Weber was that he had allowed the EPP to shift strongly to the left, abandoning its Christian conservative outlook and respect for the voice of member states.

The latter complaint seems to have come to haunt Weber when he complains about European Commission or individual Member States not taking a conscious attitude, not listening, are not acting, despite the seriousness of the problem. As Viktor Orbn pointed out in his recent criticism, the EPP has become just another left-wing political grouping in the European structures. Although it is the largest such coalition in the European Parliament, it is now unable and unwilling to present a viable platform for the reform of the EUs broken immigration system. Seven years after the peak of the migrant crisis in 2015, there is not even a hint of a consensus on the effective protection of Europes outer borders, let alone a solution.

Photo: Facebook Frontex

As to Webers calls for solidarity with member states and not letting countries such as Italy battle alone with the consequences of the actions of people smugglers, countries such as Bulgaria, Hungary or Greece have seen little or no financial aid from Brussels in the construction of border fences, the building and maintenance of which costs billions of euros. Solidarity with member-states affected by illegal mass migration have so far been exhausted by either proposals for a migrant distribution mechanism or financing the social care and rescue of those finding their way to Europe through smuggling networks. Both measures have so far incentivized migration rather than being able to stop it, just like the millions donated to groups ferrying migrants from Africa to Europe under the guise of sea rescue.

Despite his declarations, Manfred Weber has missed his one and only chance to forge a consensus within the EPP when he allowed his personal dispute with Viktor Orbn to spiral out of control. Although a politician who clearly understands the dangers of the newly escalating migrant crisis, his words no longer carry enough clout to result in tangible change. Furthermore, allowing the left fringe of the European Peoples Party to own the debate on migration and national sovereignty, he now presides to a political grouping that is in the views of many, part of the problem, rather than the instrument of a solution, as far as the hundreds of thousands of economic migrants landing on Europes shore are concerned.

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The EPP head is jubilant about the bloc's performance despite abandonment of its Christian Democratic roots.Continue reading

Via MTI, Hungary Today. Featured Photo: MTI/Miniszterelnki Sajtiroda/Szecsdi Balzs

Originally posted here:
Manfred Weber Calls for Border Protection, Yet Unable to Create ... - Hungary Today