(The Center Square) – A comprehensive new report from a U.S. House committee accuses the Biden administration of “the worst border crisis in American history.”
“Crisis By Design,” as titled by the Republican majority on the House Homeland Security Committee, details how the administration has handled the crisis on the southern border since the 2020 election.
“Even if not one more inadmissible alien crossed our borders for the remainder of Biden and Harris’ term, the millions they have already allowed into our country have done damage that will take decades to remedy,” chamber committee Chairman Dr. Mark Green, R-Tenn., said.
According to the report, since February 2021, there have been 8.2 million crossings at the southwest border. Other borders and ports of entry raise the total crossings to 10.1 million, the report said. By the end of the Biden administration, the report estimates an estimated 11.6 million encounters nationwide.
This is a 274% increase from the 3.1 million encounters from 2017-20, according to the report. The numbers do not include the 2 million encounters known as “gotaways.”
The Center Square has reported that actual illegal border crossings now surpass 12.5 million under the Biden-Harris administration. The Center Square includes “gotaway” data of illegal border crossers who successfully enter the U.S. between ports of entry and are not apprehended. U.S. Customs and Border Protection does not release gotaway data publicly; The Center Square receives the data from a border patrol agent in the field.
“Simultaneously, transnational criminal organizations like the Mexican criminal cartels and violent gangs have been enriched and empowered by record profits from drug trafficking and human smuggling,” the report says. “They funnel those blood-bought dollars into their ever-expanding operations in American cities and throughout the hemisphere.”
Many Border Patrol agents have been pulled from the border and are not enforcing U.S. immigration laws, instead processing and releasing those crossing the border per Biden-Harris policies, the report says.
Human cost to Americans and migrants alike, the report says, is incalculable as fentanyl and people continue to be smuggled over the border, killing thousands.
The report says, “Illegal aliens are committing crimes in American communities large and small, and their shocking acts of violence and recklessness have been documented in every state.”
The report says the unknown amount of gang members, violent criminals, and other possible public safety threats will be unknown into the future.
Ahead of the 2020 election, the report states Biden encouraged those around the world to surge to the border to file asylum claims despite the majority not qualifying for that protection.
“My staff and I engaged and advised the Biden transition teams well before inauguration,” former Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott said in his testimony to the committee. “The administration’s laser focus on expediting processing and increasing opportunities for migrants to enter the U.S. never wavered. Advice from career professionals was ignored. Policies were implemented that resulted in thousands of aliens being released into the U.S. Illegal immigration intensified, overwhelmed the Border Patrol, and effectively transferred control of our southwest border directly to the Mexican drug cartels.”
Even with the warnings, the report states that the Biden administration implemented unlawful policies and noted that “the resulting crisis in early 2021 was predictable, swift and catastrophic.”
The Republicans criticize Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Biden and Harris, describing her as the “border czar” and failing to tackle the root causes of migration in 2021. Mayorkas was impeached earlier this year by the Republican-controlled House, but the charges were dismissed without a trial in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
As of June 2024, Department of Homeland Security data showed that less than 2% of people who are living in or entered the U.S. illegally were under any sort of supervision by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Biden, Harris and Mayorkas were entrusted with the responsibility to secure the border, enforce the law, and keep Americans safe,” stated the report, adding that the current administration broke the trust of the American people and is willingly ignoring the administration’s obligation to the American people.
