The total number of illegal aliens in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities has hit a “record low” in President Joe Biden’s first month in office, newly released data reveals.
Data collected by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University (TRAC) finds that ICE held just 13,529 illegal aliens in detention by the end of February — marking the lowest level of those in ICE detention.
Nearly all illegal aliens in ICE detention last month were in adult facilities, 13,190, while less than 340 were being held in facilities meant for family units. More than 4,700 of the illegal aliens in ICE detention are facing expedited removal from the United States while about 6,600 have a notice to appear before an immigration judge.
Similarly, the total number of illegal aliens arrested by ICE and booked into custody dropped to just 1,970 in February. This represents a 62 percent drop in ICE arrests since January when former President Trump was in office until the end of the month.
The data is only the latest revelation of Biden’s “sanctuary country” orders that have helped gut interior immigration enforcement. Data published last week showed that deportations of illegal aliens dropped 53 percent in Biden’s first month.
As part of Biden’s agenda, top Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials issued guidelines to ICE agents that prevent them from arresting or deporting illegal aliens who are not recently convicted aggravated felons, known gang members, or terrorists.
The guidelines ensure that about 9-in-10 deportations that would have been conducted by ICE will now be halted. The guidelines are already helping arrested illegal aliens escape ICE arrest and deportation, forcing local law enforcement to release suspects back into their communities.
Arizona and Montana Attorneys General Mark Brnovich and Austin Knudsen are currently suing the Biden administration’s guidelines, arguing that the policies are a violation of federal immigration law.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.