WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), ranking member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, released recently obtained data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) showing that between March and August 2021, as a result of the Biden Administration’s failed border policies, over 270,000 illegal aliens have been dispersed into the United States with little chance for removal.

According to DHS’s report to the senator, between March 21, 2021 and August 31, 2021, over 50,000 illegal aliens—more than half of the aliens released into the interior of the United States under a Notice to Report (NTR)—failed to appear to begin deportation proceedings.

DHS provided this and other data in response to Sen. Johnson’s October 19, 2021 letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.  A summary of DHS’s response is below:

Background:

When border officials apprehend an illegal alien, they have a number of options if the alien is not detained.  DHS officials can place the alien into deportation proceedings and issue them a Notice to Appear (NTA) that specifies a date and time for the alien to appear before an immigration judge.  DHS can also, on a case by case basis, release the alien on parole and that person could eventually be eligible to work in the United States.  During the 2021 border crisis, the Biden Administration started using another mechanism to process illegal aliens, the Notice to Report (NTR).  When an alien receives an NTR, they are told to appear at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office within 60 days to receive an NTA and begin the immigration process.     

DHS data shows the practice of issuing NTRs has been an abysmal failure:

DHS informed Sen. Johnson that between March 21, 2021 (the start of the NTR program) and August 31, 2021 it “processed” 273,396 illegal aliens into the United States.  Out of that number, it issued 104,171 Notices to Report and released those individuals in the interior of the United States. 

Of that total:

• 49,859 checked-in with ICE (37,161 checked-in within 60 days, and 12,698 checked-in after 60 days).
• 47,705 did not check-in with ICE and it was greater than 60 days.
• 6,607 did not check-in with ICE and were still within 60 days.

More than half of the aliens released into the interior of the United States under an NTR between March 21, 2021 and August 21, 2021 failed to check-in with ICE.  Of the 49,859 aliens that did report to an ICE field office, only 16,293 (15.6 percent of the total number that received NTRs) received Notices to Appear, which begins deportation proceedings for the alien.   

DHS further clarified that between March 21, 2021 and December 5, 2021 ICE issued 50,683 NTAs to aliens previously released on an NTR.   For over 40,000 of those cases, ICE does not have data on what immigration court is overseeing these cases, despite the fact that ICE acts as the prosecutor in deportation proceedings.

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