Biden program meant to remove illegal migrant families has instead allowed 90% to stay in US
A signature Biden-Harris administration program to quickly remove families who entered the US illegally is allowing nearly 90% of migrants to stay in the country, new data reveal.
Of 24,000 migrants who were put into the Family Expedited Removal Program since May 2023, more than 22,000 were allowed to stay in the US — and only 2,600 have been deported, a little over 10%.
More than 3,600 migrants have also absconded from the program and are believed to be unaccounted for in the US, according to the internal data.
“These numbers are further proof that the Biden-Harris administration’s policies have nothing to do with actually securing the border or enforcing the law, but instead masking its utter refusal to do either of those things,” House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) told The Post.
“Such a dismal rate of removals makes clear that President Biden, ‘border czar’ Kamala Harris, and now-impeached DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas are committed to ignoring U.S. immigration law, while attempting to hide that fact from the American people. Ultimately, these individuals have a simple responsibility — detain and remove those who have no lawful basis to remain,” Green added.
The program, which was announced in May 2023, was touted as a way to instill “consequences for unlawful entry to the US” by placing an ankle monitor on an adult family member.
The idea was that migrant families are difficult to deport from the US if they arrive with children, but the Family Expedited Removal Program was meant to keep families together while officials processed them for “expedited removal.”
However, from the start it had major loopholes — allowing those who were meant to be removed to receive a screening to determine whether they have a legitimate reason to fear returning to their home country.
Even if their claims are denied, they still have the opportunity to have their claim of fear heard by an immigration judge.
The Biden administration hoped the program would address an expected surge in migrants crossing the southern border illegally after the end of Title 42, the Donald Trump-era COVID expulsion policy, the day after the program was announced.
Border agents have recorded encounters of more than 800,000 migrant family members crossing the southern border illegally since May 2023, when the program began, according to federal data.
