Biden admin may have lost track of millions of migrants crossing southern border: congressional report

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The Biden administration is potentially failing to track millions of migrants who have illegally crossed the southern border as monthly encounters continue to skyrocket, according to an interim report assembled by GOP House Judiciary Committee staff.

According to the 61-page report – shared with Fox News Digital and which cites new information obtained by the Judiciary Committee – the number of illegal migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border exceeded 2.2 million in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2023. The data further shows that the federal government has "no confirmed departure" for more than 2.4 million migrants encountered since January 2021.

"Because of the unprecedented border crisis, some Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have been forced to abandon arrests and removals of aliens, including criminal aliens, to process the illegal aliens who have arrived at the southwest border," the report states. "Meanwhile, the Biden Administration’s own policies and so-called enforcement 'priorities' have contributed to reduced arrests and lower removals of aliens."

"The Committee and Subcommittee will continue to conduct oversight of the Biden Administration’s radical, open-borders immigration policies," it adds. "This interim staff report highlights the failures of President Biden’s immigration agenda and helps to inform the House on legislative reforms to secure the border, reform immigration law, and end the far left’s policy incentives driving the crisis at the border."

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The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is set to publish the interim report obtained by Fox News Digital later Monday. (Caroline Brehman / CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images / File)

The Judiciary Committee report shows southwest border encounters surpassed 100,000 for the 31st straight month in August, meaning that figure has been reached every month since President Biden took office in January 2021. Border data seen by Fox News Digital separately showed that border encounters swelled to more than 260,000 in September, an all-time record.

The report also includes data that shows, since January 2021, more than 1.7 million known "gotaways" have evaded U.S. Border Patrol and escaped into the interior of the United States while potentially millions more unknown "gotaways" have also escaped into the country. A "gotaway" is a migrant observed making an unlawful entry into the U.S. but is not apprehended.

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The report also highlights that, overall, under Biden's presidency through the end of March, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has reported more than 5 million border encounters. Of those encounters, 2.46 million had "no confirmed departure" from the U.S., meaning the migrant "likely remains" in the country.

"This so-called report is full of lies from House Republicans who continue to play politics while sabotaging President Biden’s work to ramp up enforcement and personnel at the border," a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (Reuters / Sarah Silbiger / File)

The statement added that the president had requested $4 billion from Congress months ago to deploy thousands more troops and border agents to the border, install new support officers with new equipment, and fund "new detection technology" to intercept the flow of fentanyl across the border.

"House Republicans have refused to act on this request and provide DHS the tools to safely and humanely manage the Southwest Border, they have been pre-occupied posturing and bickering," the spokesperson continued.

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Since May 12, when the Title 42 public health order was lifted, the administration has "removed or released" nearly 300,000 migrants, adding that there have been more than 3.6 million repatriations and expulsions since January 2021, the spokesperson said.

When migrants are released into the interior of the United States, the government's processing for their cases can take up to eight years. While the Biden administration proposed a rule to speed up processing by allowing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers adjudicate claims, that proposal was indefinitely paused earlier this year.