Think Border Encounter Numbers Are Awful? You Have No Idea

Southwestern border encounters running over 200,000 each month begs a bigger question: How many of those illegal aliens are actually detained and removed?

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics, barely half were removed or found inadmissible via either Title 42 or Title 8 during 2021 and 2022.

FAIR has reported that the Biden administration willingly released some 1.3 million illegal aliens into the country. On top of that are an estimated 1 million “gotaways,” migrants who evaded the Border Patrol. Additionally, FAIR estimates that this cohort alone costs American taxpayers $20.4 billion annually.

“All of them will be in the United States indefinitely. Many or most will be here forever,” notes Andrew Arthur of the Center for Immigration Studies.

Though immigration law is clear – that aliens are to be removed or detained pending a determination of their status – the U.S. Supreme Court punted a Texas lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s wholesale releases back to the lower courts for further review. So illegal border crossings continue at unprecedented levels.

Meantime, a new government report is blasting the administration for mishandling unaccompanied alien children (UACs). Citing lapses in caring for and tracking minors, the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services details how the Biden regime’s disastrous border policies endanger the most vulnerable young migrants.

In a disturbing, yet unsurprising finding, the IG concluded that here, too, the reality appears to be worse than officially documented, amid “staff reported acts of potential retaliation and whistleblower chilling.”

All of which points to border operations that are out of control — coming and going.