The southern border has been a mess for years. But now it’s getting incredibly scary.
And now Americans are in imminent danger after a terrifying discovery at the border.
The Department of Homeland Security has identified at least 660,000 illegal immigrants with criminal records living in the U.S., including 13,000 convicted murderers, nearly 16,000 convicted of sexual assault, and 56,000 tied to dangerous drugs.
In addition to those convicted, thousands more migrants are facing charges for these and other crimes, though they have not yet been convicted.
These individuals are part of the “non-detained docket” under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which currently tracks over 7 million unauthorized migrants who remain free while being monitored within the country.
ICE shared this data with Congress, and the House Homeland Security Committee released it Friday, coinciding with Vice President Kamala Harris’s visit to Arizona—her first border trip in more than three years.
“It may be shocking to hear that the Biden-Harris administration is actively releasing tens of thousands of criminal illegal aliens into our communities, but their own numbers conclusively prove this to be the case,” said Rep. Mark Green, chairman of the committee.
Former President Donald Trump weighed in on social media, suggesting that the data should prompt Harris to cancel her border appearance.
“Kamala should immediately cancel her news conference because it was just revealed that 13,000 convicted murderers entered our country during her three-and-a-half-year period as border czar,” Trump stated.
However, ICE clarified that the criminal entries took place over several decades, not just during Harris’s tenure.
As of July 21, ICE reported that 435,719 migrants on its docket had criminal convictions, with an additional 26,847 migrants facing unresolved charges. This group includes 13,099 convicted of homicide and 1,845 with pending homicide charges.
Other criminal convictions within the docket include 6,567 migrants convicted of obstructing the police, 10,031 convicted of robbery, 15,811 for sexual assault, 13,423 for weapons offenses, 56,533 for involvement with dangerous drugs, 62,231 for assault, 2,521 for kidnapping, and 792 for arson.
Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, noted that these figures represent a substantial increase compared to previous decades. She attributes the rise to the Biden administration’s approach to interior immigration enforcement.
“Most deportations that happen from the interior are criminals, so when you cut the number of deportations from the interior, you’re allowing criminals to stay here,” Vaughan said.
Acting ICE Director Patrick Lechleitner, who presented the data to Congress, said ICE prioritizes detaining serious criminals, such as convicted murderers, but each case is evaluated based on the level of public risk and the risk of flight.
“ICE takes other factors into consideration as well, including when a noncitizen has a serious medical condition, is the primary caregiver of minor children, or other humanitarian considerations,” Lechleitner explained.
One factor not mentioned, but critical to the situation, is the 2001 Supreme Court ruling in the Zadvydas case, which limits how long migrants can be held in detention if deportation appears unlikely.
Countries like China and Cuba often refuse to cooperate in accepting their criminal migrants, forcing ICE to release these individuals back into the U.S.
While the U.S. government can impose penalties, such as withholding travel visas, to push non-cooperative nations to accept their deportees, there is little evidence that the Biden administration has used these measures with any regularity. Under Trump, such powers were deployed more frequently.
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