Report: US Removed Over 350K Migrants From Legal System

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Facts

  • Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) reports the US government has closed over 350K asylum applications since 2022 — meaning the migrants were no longer required to check in with authorities.1
  • According to the report, the administration took these asylum applications out of the legal system because the migrants had no criminal record and were not deemed a threat to the country.2
  • Kerry Doyle, a senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) advisor, reportedly issued a memo in 2022 ordering prosecutors to dismiss these particular applications — allowing 103K migrants that year to freely stay in the US without going to immigration court.3
  • Aside from those asylum seekers, about 36.2K in 2022 were ordered out of the country while roughly 31.8K were granted asylum. In 2023, about 149.3K cases were dismissed, 52.4K ordered deported, and 43.1K were granted asylum.1
  • Previously, the Trump administration in 2020 ordered the deportation of 48K migrants, granted asylum to less than 20K, and closed cases without a decision for 4.7K.4
  • This comes as Pres. Joe Biden is expected Tuesday to sign an executive order allowing a shutdown of the US-Mexico border amid migrant surges. Government officials earlier this year suggested capping the number of illegal border crossers at an average of 5K per day over a week or 8.5K in a single day.5

Sources: 1FOX News, 2TRACImmigration.com, 3Daily Mail, 4New York Post and 5New York Times.

Narratives

  • Democratic narrative, as provided by CNN. The border problem is nearly impossible to solve, especially when Republicans are blocking comprehensive, bipartisan legislation just to make Pres. Biden look bad. This report shows just how overwhelmed the immigration system is, but at least Biden is implementing executive orders to relieve some of the pressure.
  • Republican narrative, as provided by FOX News. As the election looms, Biden is frantically, and farcically, attempting to show the country he's tough on illegal immigration. But the problem is that throughout his term in office, he's shown the opposite, including what this report shows. The president continues making the country less safe and he must be defeated in November.
  • Progressive narrative, as provided by National Immigrant Justice Center. A Democratic president should be helping, not hurting, those who seek a better life in America, but instead, Biden is playing politics and returning the country to the day of ineffective, racist border policies prior to the election. Biden should be pouring money into streamlining the application process instead of toughening restrictions on vulnerable immigrants seeking asylum.

Predictions