ICE Arrests Fell From 5,119 To Just 1,970 In February

Conservative News DailyMarch 16, 2021

A report released on Monday finds that the number of people arrested and detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plummeted 62% during President Joe Biden’s first full month in office, while at the same time, individuals turned over to the agency by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) significantly increased.

According to a report by TRAC, a nonpartisan, nonprofit data research center affiliated with Syracuse University, those “booked into civil immigrant detention fell sharply from 5,119 ICE book-in arrests during January 2021 to just 1,970 during February 2021.” However, apprehensions by the Border Patrol and at points of entry rose from 3,024 to 4,696 during that same period.

TRAC went on to explain, “these figures do not include the growing numbers of unaccompanied children seeking entry along the southwest border, because children are turned over to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rather than to ICE for custody pending their placement with relatives of adult supervisors.”

New data from @TRACReports shows that ICE book-ins to detention have dropped overall, while border detentions are increasing due to end of Remain in Mexico policy. Also, overall ICE detentions are at a low of 13,529, but this is largely due to pandemic.https://t.co/z7cJeprTEN pic.twitter.com/vP12OXLKH4

— Elliott Young (@elliottyoungpdx) March 15, 2021

TRAC notes, CBP arrests climbed after the Biden administration announced plans to dismantle former President Donald Trump’s hardline Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program. Also known as the Remain in Mexico policy, it was intended to deter asylum seekers from coming to America and, according to Reuters, “aimed to curb the release of thousands of migrants who had entered the United States to claim asylum.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has advised migrants who are not enrolled in the MPP program to “remain where they are, pending further official information from U.S. government officials.” The agency said those currently making their way to the border would not be eligible for Biden’s proposed pathway to citizenship for 11 million unlawfully present immigrants already in the country.

.@OIM_Mexico, @AcnurMexico and @UNICEFMexico today are preparing the first groups of asylum-seekers in Matamoros to cross the US border, marking the end of a policy that forced people to wait for their immigration hearings in Mexico: https://t.co/Qqxnjcx6Ge pic.twitter.com/habBd80sQV

— IOM – UN Migration (@UNmigration) February 24, 2021

In February, the Biden administration announced new temporary guidelines that scaled back ICE enforcement that limited arrests and deportations. The changes prioritized national security threats for removal, along with individuals convicted of aggravated felonies, active gang members, and those who have recently entered America unlawfully.

“By focusing our limited resources on cases that present threats to national security, border security, and public safety, our agency will more ably and effectively execute its law enforcement mission,” acting ICE director Tae Johnson said at the time.

“ICE data show that detention numbers are at their lowest since 2005, due in part to COVID-19 and fewer interior arrests during Biden’s first month in office.” – Dr. Susan Long, Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse Universityhttps://t.co/RzgnzVQ2Fm pic.twitter.com/31sXIRspMs

— TRAC Reports (@TRACReports) March 15, 2021

ICE reported a record low of 13,529 people in detention at the end of last month.

“ICE data show that detention numbers are at their lowest since 2005, due in part to COVID-19 and fewer interior arrests during Biden’s first month in office,” said Dr. Susan Long, director of the TRAC Research Center.

Low detention numbers are great, but they have to be looked at in the context of how many have been turned away at the border or are being detained and deported by Mexico. The detention and deportation regime is transnational.

— Elliott Young (@elliottyoungpdx) March 15, 2021

As National Public Radio previously reported:

Changes at Immigration and Customs Enforcement also face pushback — from outside the agency and within. Immigration hawks complain that the new guidance will prevent ICE agents and officers from doing their jobs — in essence, abolishing ICE without actually abolishing it.

“The men and women of ICE, they took an oath to enforce immigration laws,” said Thomas Homan, who served as acting ICE director under former President Trump. “It’s unfortunate they can’t do the job. … And it’s unfortunate that many criminals are going to be walking the streets of America because this administration simply thinks they’re not important enough to take off the streets.” …

Field officers have been instructed to seek pre-approval from supervisors before making arrests of non-citizens convicted of other crimes, such as minor drug offenses, immigration offenses, and driving under the influence. In practice, that means ICE arrests would be limited largely to immigrants who have been convicted of felony offenses and are already detained in federal or state prisons.

Some states have extended a lawsuit against the Biden administration to block the new ICE guidelines.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reports that “thousands more migrants, many of them unaccompanied children,” have been “showing up at the border daily” as Democrats prepare to push Biden’s ‘path to citizenship’ plan through the House. The outlet quoted Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, who described the situation at the border as “out of control.”

“Why would you legalize anybody, sending another incentive to keep coming, until you stop the flow?” Graham said.

The Times reports:

The surge in migration has been fueled in part by natural disasters and the pandemic’s toll on the economy in Central America, as well as violence and poverty in the region. But it is also the result of a perception among some migrants that Mr. Biden is working to unwind many of former President Donald J. Trump’s most draconian immigration policies and taking a more humane approach.

Another NY Times article featured migrants who believe Biden “promised” them they would be allowed to enter America.

As The Daily Wire reported on Monday, Border Patrol agents “say that some 100,000 foreigners came to the border in February alone, and after weeks of claiming all is well, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Saturday acknowledged that ‘record numbers’ of foreigners are overwhelming U.S. agencies, prompting the department to call in help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).”

Border Patrol said the 100,441 people that tried to enter the country unlawfully last month represented a 28% increase over January.

“It’s clear we need to work more on getting the message out and being very clear, now is not the time to come,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said last week. “The majority of people who come to the border have been turned away.”

Still, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and other GOP elected officials visited an over-capacity migrant detention center near the U.S.-Mexico border on Monday.

What’s happening at the border is more than a crisis. This is human heartbreak.

And it was created by the policies of President Biden. pic.twitter.com/PNUUoXy6NZ

— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) March 15, 2021

“What’s happening at the border is more than a crisis,” McCarthy said. “This is human heartbreak. And it was created by the policies of President Biden.”

On Tuesday, Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) tweeted: “The crisis at the border is the direct result of the Biden administration’s failed immigration policy.”

Cruz said ending the Remain in Mexico policy, along with other Biden moves like halting construction on the border wall and reviving a strategy informally known as “catch and release,” has exasperated the problem.

The crisis at the border is the direct result of the Biden administration’s failed immigration policy.

The Biden administration:

❌ Brought back catch and release

❌ Halted construction of the wall

❌ Ended the Remain in Mexico policy

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 16, 2021

“Catch and release” allows for some migrants arrested by Border Control to be released in the U.S. while awaiting the results of their asylum hearings. However, not everyone apprehended is eligible for those legal protections. Many are sent back to their home countries.

Over the weekend, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said Border Patrol officers told him Biden’s “open borders policies” are “enriching” and “empowering the drug cartels in Mexico, who make money off of the people that they assist in smuggling them into the state of Texas.”

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