By Jason Hopkins, Daily Caller News Foundation | October 24, 2024
Nearly 1 million illegal migrants in the United States have benefited from “quiet amnesty” by the Biden-Harris immigration court system, according to a report released Thursday.
Over 700,000 illegal migrants have had their cases administratively closed, terminated or dismissed, allowing them to remain in the country “indefinitely” without being subject to immigration consequences, according to a report released by the House Judiciary Committee, led by Ohio GOP Rep. Jim Jordan. The findings, which the committee dubbed as “quiet amnesty,” come amid record levels of illegal immigration into the country under the current administration.
“For almost four years, Americans have watched as President Joe Biden and border czar Vice President Kamala Harris have abandoned the southwest border and welcomed nearly 8 million illegal aliens into the United States,” the report stated.
“Through administrative maneuvering at both the Justice Department and [the Department of Homeland Security], the Biden-Harris Administration has already ensured that nearly 1 million illegal aliens can remain in the United States without the possibility of deportation—and that trend shows no sign of stopping,” the report went on.
When a non-citizen enters the U.S. unlawfully, they can be placed into removal proceedings and eventually go before one of the roughly 700 immigration judges across the country.
Due to the unprecedented border crisis and wave of foreign nationals applying for asylum, the immigration court system has faced a massive backlog, the report detailed. The backlog grew from 1.2 million cases at the end of the Trump administration to nearly 3.5 million cases by the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2024 — marking a 175% increase.
The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) additionally reported nearly 109,100 cases as “not adjudicated” in fiscal year 2023, meaning that the cases were completed but not adjudicated on the merits of the claims, according to the House report. There were 109,568 asylum cases not adjudicated in just the first nine months of fiscal year 2024, already surpassing the total previous fiscal year.
For comparison, there were just 12,960 total asylum cases reported as “not adjudicated” from fiscal years 2017 to 2020 — combined, according to the House report.
The Biden-Harris administration additionally failed to file the required documentation to begin immigration court removal proceedings for around 200,00 cases, resulting in the “overwhelming majority” of those non-citizens being able to remain in the country indefinitely, the report found.
“Instead of actually adjudicating illegal aliens’ cases based on the merits of aliens’ claims for relief — such as whether an alien has a valid and successful asylum claim — immigration judges under the Biden-Harris Administration have been tasked with rubberstamping case dismissals, case closures, and case terminations, all of which allow illegal aliens to remain in the United States without immigration consequences,” the report stated.
“This sort of quiet amnesty has become a staple of the Biden-Harris Administration’s immigration courts,” the report continued.
The Department of Justice, which oversees EOIR, declined to comment for this story.
Jason Hopkins is a reporter covering immigration issues for the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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