U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement said the Biden administration's sanctuary policies have led to a significant decrease in criminal deportations and a rise in crimes.
McClintock made his comments during his opening statement at a July 13 subcommittee hearing to discuss the consequences on U.S. communities from criminals in the country illegally.
"The administration has essentially adopted the sanctuary policies that prevent many dangerous illegal aliens from being deported after they have been convicted and incarcerated for committing other crimes while in the United States," McClintock said in his opening statement.
McClintock went on to cite data showing that, in fiscal year 2020, the last year of the Trump administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed 186,000 illegal residents from the U.S. Two years into the Biden Administration, deportations have plunged to 72,000, a decline of more than 60%, he said.
Similarly, in 2020, the Trump administration removed 104,000 convicted criminals from the country yet the Biden administration only removed 38,000 in fiscal year 2022, he noted in his statement.
"The number of convicted criminal aliens removed from our country has declined by nearly two thirds under this administration," McClintock said in his statement. "These democratic policies might create sanctuaries for criminal illegal aliens, but they're creating a dystopian nightmare for a law-abiding citizens and non-citizens alike who must live in them."
In FY 2020, there were a total of 646,822 encounters at the borders, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website. In FY 2023, there have already been more than 2 million encounters.
Newly released federal data reveals Border Patrol agents apprehended 127 noncitizens listed on the FBI's terror watchlist who attempted to unlawfully enter the U.S. since the commencement of fiscal year 2023, according to the Washington Examiner.
Statistics disclosed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection June 20 indicated the number of apprehensions related to individuals on the terror watch list, spanning the eight-month period from October 2022 to May 2023, exceeded last year's figures of 98 arrests within a 12-month timeframe, the Washington Examiner reported. This recent data represents the highest level of such apprehensions recorded in at least the past four years, for which comparable data are available.
Fox News reported 16 people on the FBI's terror watchlist were encountered at the border in the month of April alone. Customs and Border Patrol statistics said the 16 people stopped by Border Protection agents in April was greater than fiscal years 2017-20 combined.
Federal Newswire reported a 16-year-old in the country illegally from El Salvador allegedly raped and murdered 20-year-old Kayla Hamilton. The El Salvador immigrant was a member of MS-13, according to law enforcement, a violent gang with more than 10,000 members on U.S. soil.
The Federal Newswire reported Tammy Nobles, Hamilton's mother, testified before Congress and said the White House was to blame.
“If there was a more secured border and individuals coming here was properly vetted, my daughter would still be alive today. They let her down,” Noble said, according to the Federal Newswire report.
Devastated, Nobles said she never expected this kind of tragedy to strike her family: “I never thought I would lose my daughter at 20 years old,” according to Federal Newswire.
