ICE frees hundreds of criminals to make room for migrants; Biden goes easy on quick removals

excalibur · May 10, 2023

How a criminal enterprise goes about business.

Look! George Santos.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been releasing illegal immigrants, including those with criminal records, from custody to clear space for the looming surge of more migrants at the border, in the latest sign of the government’s scramble to prepare for the onslaught.

ICE cut its detention population to fewer than 23,000 at the start of the month, down from more than 28,000 six weeks earlier. That includes hundreds of people with criminal records whom ICE has released.

Acting ICE Director Tae Johnson told Congress last month that he wanted to cut the population to as few as 21,000 people to leave plenty of space to accommodate the border chaos as the administration gives up its Title 42 pandemic expulsion power Thursday night.

Mr. Johnson said he would try to release mostly non-criminals but some criminals could be put back on the streets to make room. He said any criminals released would be “very low-level criminals.”

ICE didn’t respond Tuesday to a request for comment, but it said in data published in late April that it had released more than 800 immigrants with criminal convictions last month on top of 1,410 in March. Most of those were discretionary releases.

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