The catch-and-release migrant programs created by President Joe Biden and endorsed by Vice President Kamala Harris have increased national security risks, according to the independent watchdog that oversees the Department of Homeland Security.
The DHS Office of Inspector General released a report last week finding that Customs and Border Protection is releasing noncitizens without identification into the United States, contrary to federal law, in a manner that “inadvertently increases national security risks.” The same report also found that the Transportation Security Administration then lets these same unidentified noncitizens onto airplanes, where they are free to fly wherever they wish in the U.S.
According to the report, CBP encountered 2.4 million migrants on the southern border in fiscal 2023, and most of them were released into the country. By law, the report notes, “noncitizens without identification are not admissible into the country and shall be detained.” This is also true for noncitizens without grounds for legal entry regardless of whether they have identification. The Biden-Harris administration, however, releases migrants with no legal right to enter the country anyway by abusing the law’s parole power.
Migrants processed into the U.S. by the Biden-Harris administration, including those who secure appointments through the CBP One app, give their biographical information, including their name and date of birth, to Border Patrol agents, and biometric information, including a photograph and fingerprints, is taken from them.
This information is then entered into the DHS database to check for past criminal convictions or other derogatory information. However, the DHS database is only as good as the data in it. Crucially, the DHS does not have access to any information from countries that do not partner with the U.S. to share travel data. That means that if a migrant has murdered or raped someone in Mexico, Haiti, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, China, or any of the other countries that are the dominant countries of origin for the vast majority of migrants today, the DHS would have no idea.
In addition to the fact that the DHS’s database does not include most foreign convictions, as the report notes, nothing is stopping migrants without identification from giving fake names. Asked by the OIG to quantify how many migrants had been released into the U.S. without any identification, DHS officials failed to respond, noting that they do not even collect that information. The OIG report dryly notes that “immigration officers we interviewed acknowledged the risks of allowing noncitizens without ID into the country.”
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Nonvetted noncitizens should not be ushered into the country as fast as possible where they are then allowed to board airplanes without identification, something U.S. citizens aren’t even allowed to do. The entire Biden-Harris parole agenda, including the CBP One app program conducted at southern border ports of entry, and the CHNV parole program where migrants are allowed to fly in from other foreign countries, is a colossal security failure.
Harris should be forced to explain why she tolerates this national security risk, and if elected, former President Donald Trump should completely dismantle it on Day One.