Department of Homeland Security Released 1,100 criminals From Detention in December

Without borders, we have no country. But what we are suffering under is worse than that. We have a ruling class at war with its own people.

Criminals free despite extension of border rule, spaces made for migrant surge now empty

By: Stephen Dinan, The Washington Times, January 25, 2023

The Homeland Security Department released more than 1,100 illegal immigrants with criminal records from its detention facilities in December as it sought to make room for a border surge that never materialized.

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, released this month by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, shows the extent of the moves.

ICE said it released 515 migrants with criminal convictions and 641 facing active criminal charges.

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.

Ultimately, the Supreme Court ordered that Title 42 remain in place while it hears and considers arguments. Although illegal border crossings increased, the cataclysmic surge did not materialize.
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That made the releases all the more aggravating, said R.J. Hauman, head of government relations at the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

“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,” Mr. Hauman told The Washington Times.

Detaining illegal immigrants awaiting deportation is supposed to be the norm, particularly for those caught at the border.

Yet the sheer size of the border chaos and the Biden administration’s antipathy toward detention mean beds go unused while illegal immigrants are released into the country.

The criminals represented just a fraction of December releases, which totaled 20,279. That was up more than 80% from the averages in October and November.

ICE was using only a little more than 20,000 detention beds in early January despite being funded for an average of 34,000 beds on any given day.

As of this week, ICE was holding 23,030 people, nearly 11,000 below the daily capacity.

ICE didn’t respond to an inquiry for this article.

Tom Homan, who led ICE during the first part of the Trump administration, told The Times that all detention decisions are now made by a political appointee, not career staffers.

Mr. Homan said the appointee is trying to push toward release rather than detention.

“The sad thing is this: There are many empty beds sitting empty already paid,” he said.

Part of the problem appears to be about money siphoned to groups that are chummy with the Biden team, Mr. Horman said. That includes nongovernmental organizations that the government pays to help settle released immigrants in communities and for-profit companies that oversee the monitoring programs that track some of the migrants on release through phone check-ins.

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