A group of House Republicans, led by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), are calling out President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for closing or moving to dismiss nearly 92,000 deportation cases last year, Breitbart News has learned.
Biggs, along with a number of other House Republicans, sent a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding answers related to the agency’s moving to dismiss or administratively close 91,938 deportation cases in Fiscal Year 2022 that had been pending before the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR).
The Republicans write:
The Secretary can undoubtedly connect the dots to realize that a massive amount of case dismissals is a component of the incentives this administration offers illegal aliens daily. You might try enforcing the law and allowing it to serve as a deterrent to illegal entry. Historical precedent exists to support the idea.
You and OPLA leadership can make every argument you want about the latitude and benefits of using prosecutorial discretion, but this directive, coupled with this administration’s dangerous immigration policies, can only lead us to one conclusion — you have found another avenue to circumvent federal immigration law and exploited it to the detriment of the American people. [Emphasis added]
Reps. Michael Cloud (R-TX), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Diana Harshbarger (R-TN), Jodey Arrington (R-TX), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Ronny Jackson (R-TX), Brian Babin (R-TX), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Josh Brecheen (R-OK), Matt Rosendale (R-MT), John Rose (R-TN), Lance Gooden (R-TX), Harriet Hageman (R-WY), Eric Burlison (R-MO), Byron Donalds (R-FL), and Rich McCormick (R-GA) co-signed the letter.
In particular, the Republicans want to know precisely how many deportation cases were dismissed versus those that were administratively closed, as well as how many the administration is currently reviewing to dismiss or close this year.
Under Biden, the number of illegal aliens who remain living in the United States but who have final deportation orders from a federal immigration judge has ballooned to 1.2 million.
Altogether, the total of illegal aliens living in the U.S. who have either final deportation orders or pending deportation orders reached nearly 4.8 million in Fiscal Year 2022 — an almost 100 percent increase since Fiscal Year 2017, when about 2.4 million illegal aliens were living in the U.S. with deportation orders or pending deportation orders.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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