42,000 migrants have crossed the border since Biden’s executive order — and thousands are still being released into the US
Some 42,000 migrants have illegally crossed the border from Mexico in the days since President Biden’s “crackdown” took effect, The Post can reveal.
Border Patrol sources say that most of the migrants are still being given court dates and released into the US — despite the Biden Administration’s claim that the new measure would stem the flow of illegal immigrants into border towns and major cities.
“Thousands are still released by the day,” a source said.
“They get their ICE appointment and they’re gone in the wind. You think they’re going to show up when they know they don’t have a legitimate claim? Of course not.”
The average number of crossings each day is about 3,200 since the order began June 5, according to internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data leaked to The Post.
The two weeks before that, there was an average of more than 3,900 crossings a day, suggesting that the policy hasn’t had a dramatic impact on illegal immigration at the southern border.
Crossings also tend to dip as the summer progresses and the scorching heat makes the trek more dangerous.
Biden’s order restricts migrants’ access to asylum when crossings average 2,500 per day and will only be overturned after crossings average 1,500 per day for a consecutive week.
Migrant crossings haven’t been that low since July 2020, when President Trump sealed the border due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
When the Biden policy is in effect, most migrants who cross the southern border illegally will be ineligible to pursue asylum in the US.
However, this doesn’t mean that they’re being immediately deported after being caught.
If they are found to be ineligible, they will still have the chance to tell federal authorities that they have a fear of returning to their home country.
An asylum officer will then vet their fear claims and determine whether they are legitimate.
If a migrant doesn’t have a fear claim, the federal government will attempt to remove them quickly. If they do have a valid fear claim, they will typically be released with a future court date.
“The system is still overwhelmed. This is a last ditch effort from this bulls—t administration to say ‘we did something. We don’t know why they’re still coming,’” the source said.
“Too little too late. It’s an election year and this administration knows they’re in deep shit. There’s still thousands coming in by the day.”
The restrictions, however, exclude large groups of migrants, including those who use the CBP One phone app to cross at a port of entry, enter as unaccompanied minors, or can prove they have suffered “severe” forms of trafficking or face medical emergencies.
“It’s all smoke and mirrors,” Manny Bayon, the president of the National Border Patrol Council for San Diego, told The Post recently.
The San Diego sector has become the epicenter for illegal immigration at the southern border, where migrants from more than 100 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa are exempt from the executive order’s restrictions — and are being released into the country.
Migrants who are exempt from the order will have the chance to have their cases heard by an immigration judge.
However, under the Biden administration, 77% of migrants applying for asylum have been permitted to remain in the US, equating to 499,000 of the 648,000 applications. That is because immigration judges are dismissing hundreds of thousands of cases effectively allowing those migrants to stay in the country without the fear of deportation.
Migrants can also be ordered removed by immigration judge “in absentia,” meaning they failed to appear to hearings and were considered no shows.
Out of the more than 231,000 migrants ordered removed by an immigration judge in the financial year 2023, which ended in September 2023, roughly 159,000 failed to appear for their hearings, which resulted in deportation orders, according to federal data.
Each Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer has to manage an average of 7,000 cases, making it all the more difficult to track down migrants with deportation orders, according to Fox News.
