Nearly 50,000 illegal immigrants who have been apprehended have been released into the U.S. without a court date, according to a report from Axios on Tuesday.
“Although they are told to report to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office instead, just 13% have shown up so far,” the report noted.
We’re not talking about immigrants who are not showing up for court. The report says nearly 50,000 illegal immigrants have been released without being given a court date. There is not even an attempt to bring the immigrants to court to move through the legal process.
There appears to be little fear that ICE will remove the new immigrants from the country. Surprisingly, a growing number of these immigrants are not from the expected nations of Mexico or the Northern Triangle. Instead, many recent immigrants have come from Haiti, Cuba and even Senegal in Africa.
Through June, more than one million illegal immigrants have crossed the nation’s southern border. The number already surpasses more than all of 2020.
In addition to the sheer number of illegal immigrants, there have been growing fears regarding the spread of COVID-19, especially as the delta variant increases. In La Joya, Texas, on Monday, local law enforcement discovered an entire hotel had been rented by a charity to house immigrants who had tested positive for the virus.
A local Whataburger manager asked one group to leave after they reported ate at the restaurant and were coughing and sneezing.
Local police had not been notified.
Increasingly, reports also continue to spread of the Biden administration transporting illegal immigrants to locals across the country by bus and planes to locations hundreds or thousands of miles from the southern border. One Tennessee report revealed multiple planes landing with immigrants that crossed into Texas who were then transported on buses to unknown destinations.
Military bases have also reportedly been flying and housing a growing number of immigrants. This includes many unaccompanied children, with a reported 15,000 still in government custody.
This week, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz again blasted the Biden administration on the issue, noting the nation is on target to receive more than two million illegal immigrants by the end of 2021. The number would surpass the total population of several U.S. states in just the first year of Biden’s four-year term.
The midterm elections may offer an opportunity for change if Republicans regain an advantage in the House and perhaps the Senate. However, Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott is done waiting. He has already started work on his state’s own fence, as well as telling law enforcement and the National Guard to arrest illegal immigrants.
Perhaps Abbott’s effort will help slow the numbers in the meantime. If so, his call to other states for help from National Guard members would be a positive way for other states that want to help to participate in protecting the nation.