617K Migrants with Criminal Records Being Monitored by DHS

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is keeping tabs on over 600,000 migrants who have entered the U.S. with criminal backgrounds, as stated by the chairman of the House National Security, Border, and Foreign Affairs subcommittee.

Chairman Glenn Grothman, R-Wis., who will lead a hearing titled “How the Border Crisis Impacts Public Safety,” revealed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is currently monitoring more than 6 million undocumented immigrants in light of the crisis at the southern border under President Joe Biden’s administration.

Furthermore, Grothman mentioned that around 617,000 of those migrants have either criminal convictions or pending criminal charges.

“The truth remains that illegal aliens should not be present in the country in the first place and be able to commit such crimes,” Grothman stated in prepared remarks, as reported by The Washington Times.

“The solutions are straightforward. Secure the border, refrain from releasing illegal aliens into the country in large numbers, and when an illegal alien engages in criminal activity, hand them over to ICE, enforce the law, and deport them from the United States.”

NBC News revealed in September that the DHS Office of Inspector General discovered the agency had limited capabilities to track migrants post their release within the U.S.

Between March 2021 and August 2022, approximately 177,000 address records for new migrants were either empty or contained non-existent or non-residential addresses, according to NBC News.

The subcommittee hearing on Tuesday is scheduled just before the House is set to forward two articles of impeachment to the Senate against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his negligence in managing the migrant crisis.

Sheriff Bill Waybourn, Tarrant County, Texas Sheriff Mike Chapman, Loudoun County, Virginia, and former acting DHS Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli were expected to testify before the subcommittee.

Waybourn was anticipated to inform the panel that his jail houses 264 illegal immigrants facing charges including eight counts of murder, 38 counts of assault with a deadly weapon, five counts of sexual assault, two counts of possession of child pornography, and one count of intoxicated homicide.

“These offenders, many of whom are gang members and criminals, have impacted everything,” Waybourn stated in his prepared remarks as reported by the Times.

“While I don’t necessarily believe these aliens have a higher crime rate, the fact that these individuals are undocumented in our country and committed crimes is significant.”

Chapman was expected to address the migrant crisis and highlight the surge in juvenile drug overdoses, with 11 cases among students at a single high school in six weeks last year.

“Having served as a DEA agent in Miami in the ’80s, I thought I had witnessed the worst of the drug issue. I was mistaken,” Chapman expressed, as reported by the Times.