(The Center Square) – The U.S. Senate passed a bill filed by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, requiring the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to regularly report border crossings data.
He first filed the Southern Border Transparency Act last November. It passed by unanimous consent without amendment, without objections, and without a roll call vote on Sept. 17.
It requires DHS to publish various publications and reports on “the number of aliens seeking entry along the southern border of the United States.”
“The Biden-Harris administration has gone to great lengths to hide the ball when it comes to levels of illegal immigration, but the American people deserve to know exactly how many migrants are being released into the country and exactly on what terms,” Cornyn said. “This is the most basic of transparency measures – just the facts, that’s all we’re looking for.”
The bill requires U.S. Customs and Border Protection to publish on its website how many illegal border crossers are released into the country and granted parole, including those who are processed at ports of entry and apprehended between ports of entry. It also requires that demographic information be published, including their country of origin, whether they are unaccompanied minors, family units, or single adults.
Quarterly reports are also required to be submitted to U.S. Senate and House committees on the Judiciary and Homeland Security and published on DHS’s website on how many illegal border crossers: voluntarily removed themselves and left the country; were placed into expedited removal proceedings; were screened for credible threats of fear when claiming asylum; were removed from the U.S.; were detained pending removal; among other actions.
Quarterly reports are also required from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services related to parole; annual reports are required by DHS on the number of “aliens paroled into the United States,” including their nationality, demographics and work authorization status.
The bill was filed as Senate Republicans have demanded accountability and transparency on DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ parole “or unlawful release programs,” including the CHNV, CAM, and others House Republicans identified as illegal when they impeached Mayorkas.
CBP publishes encounters and apprehension data about illegal border crossers reported nationwide, at the northern border and southwest border. In monthly press releases, CBP also reports how many illegal border crossers are released through the CHNV and CBP One app programs. Limited data is made public about how many have been released into the U.S. through Mayorkas’ many parole programs.
CBP does not publicly report gotaway data and Cornyn’s bill does not appear to require it to be published. The Center Square first reported on gotaway data in September 2021 after receiving it from a Border Patrol agent; they now total at least over 2 million.
Based on the CBP apprehension and gotaway data alone, there have been more than 12.5 million illegal border crossers since fiscal 2021, The Center Square first reported.
This excludes more than 1.3 million released through at least two parole programs: roughly 813,000 illegal foreign nationals processed through the CBP One app and nearly 530,000 through CHNV (Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans), according to CBP data.
They are given notice to appear documents to appear before an immigration judge years into the future, which state they are in the country unlawfully as inadmissible, The Center Square has reported. If federal law were followed, the majority of illegal foreign nationals would be denied entry and processed for removal, House Republicans and dozens of attorneys general who sued to stop them, argue.
Southern border data does not represent all CBP illegal border crosser data.
From fiscal 2021 through August, the majority of illegal border crossers were apprehended at the southwest border, followed by nationwide and at the northern border, according to CBP data. When considering those coming from the four countries that are part of the CHNV program, they include:
672,505 Cubans: 543,969 (southwest); 127,211 (nationwide); 1,325 (northern);485,091 Haitians: 261,888 (southwest); 220,910 (nationwide); 2,293 (northern);444,203 Nicaraguans: 347,814 (southwest); 95,591 (nationwide); 798 (northern);872,484 Venezuelans: 748,259 (southwest); 121,703 (nationwide); 2,522 (northern).
The bill doesn’t seek the same infomation on the record number of illegal border crossers pouring through the northern border, the greatest number in U.S. history, under the Biden-Harris administration. This includes a record number on the terrorist watchlist, the majority who’ve been apprehended at the northern border, The Center Square first reported.
In response to increased national security threats at the northern border, U.S. Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-NY, filed the Northern Border Security Enhancement and Review Act, saying, “Our northern border, the world’s longest unsecured border, poses a major threat to our national security.”
