For three years, the Biden administration has maintained that its immigration enforcement policies are more focused on criminal aliens than those of its predecessor.
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a 2021 memo: -There is. “
It turns out that it is Team Biden's policies that threaten America's well-being.
The Biden administration has significantly reduced arrests and deportations of criminal aliens, according to new data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Comparing the first three years of President Donald Trump (FY2017-19) to the first three years of President Biden (FY2021-23), arrests of criminal aliens decreased by 57%; Deportations decreased by 67%.
ICE made 389,237 arrests and 485,930 deportations of criminal aliens (convicted or facing criminal charges) during the first three years of the Trump administration; There were only 165,650 arrests and 158,931 deportations.
When I was at ICE, I had ICE report criminal crime data in its annual report for the first time in its history. Transparency now allows for crime-by-crime comparisons between administrations, and the results are deeply worrying from a public safety perspective.
The rap sheets of criminal aliens arrested during the first three years of the Trump administration totaled more than 1,542,707 crimes.
The rap sheets of people arrested during the first three years of the Biden administration included a total of 681,614 crimes.
This is a 56% decrease and clear evidence that the Biden administration has dramatically reduced ICE's focus on criminal aliens.
Crimes committed by foreigners have not suddenly decreased. That means Team Biden is choosing to reduce the number of detention requests for sheriffs who arrest criminal aliens.
There has been a 44% drop in detainees being released under the Biden administration, resulting in sheriffs simply releasing criminal aliens into the country rather than placing them in ICE custody.
And, as Texas and Louisiana revealed in Biden's lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, the administration is rescinding ICE detention requests issued during the Trump administration.
Beneficiaries of this 60-day pro-crime policy in Louisiana include aliens convicted of lewd acts and sexual assault of a juvenile, aliens convicted of fentanyl possession, and aggravated second-degree assault. This included foreign nationals convicted of aggravated assault and foreign nationals convicted of aggravated assault. Assault with a firearm.
Had the Biden administration focused on public safety, these individuals and countless others in other jurisdictions could have been included in ICE's annual arrest and removal data.
With nearly 5 million illegal aliens entering the country since President Biden took office, ICE has no shortage of work to do.
A look at the actual crimes further illuminates the terrifying security threat Biden and his political appointees have created.
In the first three years of the Trump administration, there were 235,800 DUI arrests on the rap sheets of foreign nationals arrested by ICE. During the Biden administration, there were 69,282 such records, a 71% decrease.
If ever there was a time for Mothers Against Drunk Driving to speak out against bad federal policy, it's now.
In the first three years of the Trump administration, there were 57,751 theft arrests on the rap sheets of foreign nationals arrested by ICE. Biden's total was just 21,114, a 63% decrease.
Arrests of foreign nationals with a history of assault have also decreased.
The rap sheets of foreign nationals arrested during President Trump's first three years had 145,011 assaults, but under Biden there were only 75,454, a 48% decrease.
And under the Biden administration, the number of arrests of foreign nationals with a history of theft decreased by 55%, 35,821 vs. 16,024.
Despite the Biden administration's tough stance on fentanyl and drug trafficking, criminal aliens with histories of dangerous drug use remain the biggest beneficiaries of the administration's immigration policies.
In the first three years of the Trump administration, there were 220,818 dangerous drug charges on the rap sheets of arrested foreigners. Under the Biden administration, there were only 101,244 such records, a 54% decrease.
The Biden administration has overseen dramatic declines in all crime categories, ICE reports. My full analysis is online.
Bottom line: President Biden's reckless immigration policies seriously undermine public safety and national security, and the threats his administration has created will continue to harm America for years to come.
John Feer, who served as chief of staff for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Trump administration, is director of investigations at the Center for Immigration Studies.
