New report reveals huge number of illegal immigrants benefiting from Biden-Harris admin’s ‘quiet amnesty’

FIRST ON FOX: Almost 1 million illegal immigrants A new House Judiciary Committee report released Thursday found they are in the U.S. “indefinitely” after their cases were dismissed or closed or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) failed to file the necessary documentation.

“Through administrative maneuvers at both the Department of Justice and DHS, the Biden-Harris administration has already ensured that nearly 1 million illegal aliens have the opportunity to remain in the United States without the possibility of deportation – and this trend shows no sign of stopping,” the House majority in the committee said in a report. first obtained by Fox News Digital, he says.

If illegal immigrants are encountered, they may be subject to deportation proceedings, which will ultimately bring them before an immigration judge who will hear their case. There are approximately 700 immigration judges across the United States who now face a backlog of millions of cases following a historic crisis. crisis at the border.

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The report cites information to the committee that staff says the immigration cases of more than 700,000 undocumented immigrants have been dismissed, terminated or administratively closed in immigration court during the current administration, “allowing these aliens to remain in the country indefinitely.” without incurring immigration consequences.”

It further reports that the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), which oversees immigration courts, reported that more than 109,000 cases were unresolved in FY23, meaning they were completed but not resolved at to the essence of the claims.

Additionally as previously reportedDHS failed to file the necessary documentation in 200,000 additional cases, “which means the vast majority of these foreign nationals may also remain in the U.S. indefinitely.”

“Rather than actually adjudicating cases involving illegal aliens based on the merits of the aliens’ requests for assistance – e.g., whether the alien has a valid and valid asylum claim – immigration judges under the Biden-Harris administration, they have been tasked with stamping waivers, sealing and terminating cases, allowing illegal aliens to remain in the United States without immigration consequences,” the report said. “This type of quiet amnesty has become a mainstay of the Biden-Harris administration’s immigration courts.”

The report detailed that DHS issued a memo in 2022 directing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attorneys to promote closing and dismissing cases due to the massive backlog. This was intended to remove “non-priority issues” from the register, i.e. those that do not qualify as a threat to national security, public security or border security.

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Meanwhile, at the Justice Department, the committee points to a 2021 memo from Attorney General Merrick Garland in which he restored the use of a process called administrative closure to allow for “focus on higher priority cases.” After interviews with officials, including the former director of EOIR, the committee found that immigration judges were encouraged to dismiss cases or close them administratively.

“By empowering both immigration judges at the Department of Justice and ICE lawyers at DHS, the Biden-Harris administration has ensured that more than 1 million aliens – the overwhelming majority of whom would likely otherwise have no legal basis to remain in the United States – can remain in in the country for an indefinite period of time,” we read in the report. “This silent amnesty not only undermines U.S. immigration law, but also encourages additional illegal aliens to arrive at America’s borders knowing that they will be released into the country and never deported.”

Fox has previously reported that dismissing cases can also be problematic for migrants, who may be left in uncertainty about their status and next steps because the dismissal also does not provide any form of legal status.

The Department of Justice declined to comment, while DHS pointed to statistics showing that 96% of notices to appear in court (NTAs) have been successfully filed since January 2021, and 98% since the beginning of FY23, with the majority of new NTAs being filed digitally and automatically to EOIR systems.

DHS says that if an NTA is filed incorrectly or late, the NTA is resubmitted so that cases can continue at a later date. It emphasizes that migrants are also asked to register and report changes of address so that they can continue to receive information about their cases.

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Meanwhile, the Biden administration has highlighted a sharp decline in the number of encounters at the border since President Biden signed an executive order restricting entry into the US. Since then, the number of meetings has dropped by 55%. The agency also says it made more than 700,000 moves or returns in FY24, the most since 2010.

The ruling comes as immigration remains a major election issue heading into November 5, with both former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris dueling over who is the best candidate to resolve the situation at the border.

Get the latest updates on the ongoing border crisis from Fox News Digital’s immigration hub.