Statistics show that the Harris-Biden administration has become indifferent to criminals crossing the border.

The three-and-a-half years of the Harris-Biden administration have unequivocally shown that illegal immigration is not a victimless crime.

This reality has been highlighted by the recent news that an illegal alien charged with assaulting New York City police officers was apprehended and released at the border in May, despite the availability of ICE beds.

We have witnessed the tragic crimes committed by illegal aliens against innocent Americans like Laken Riley, Rachel Morin, and Jocelyn Nungaray. We have mourned their loss and questioned how such heinous acts could occur in our communities.

These tragedies were made possible by an administration that has ignored decades of bipartisan immigration enforcement policies.

The mass catch-and-release policy of Biden and Harris has led to the release of millions of inadmissible aliens, including criminals and other public safety threats. Since the start of Fiscal Year 2021, Border Patrol has made over 52,000 arrests of illegal aliens with criminal backgrounds, compared to around 22,000 from FY2017-2020.

Deputy Chief Patrol Agent Dustin Caudle of Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector testified to my Committee last year that individuals who have committed various crimes are encountered daily.

This staggering number does not include the roughly two million known gotaways during the Biden-Harris administration. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens has expressed concern over these individuals, some of whom are criminals, gang members, or linked to terrorism.

Additionally, due to insufficient criminal databases in many countries and lack of information sharing by certain nations, Border Patrol agents face challenges in vetting border crossers.

Former Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott informed my Committee that vetting illegal border crossers has become a superficial process.

Even the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently acknowledged the lack of information available on individuals.

Despite these challenges, the Department of Homeland Security under Biden and Harris continues to release these individuals, seemingly hoping for the best.

However, hope is not a strategy, and the consequences have been criminal aliens released into the interior. A review of recent ICE press releases reveals numerous instances where criminal aliens released by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) were later found to have criminal ties and had to be pursued by federal law enforcement.

For example, Peruvian national Gianfranco Torres-Navarro, wanted in connection with the murders of 23 people in his home country, was apprehended in New York after being released in May 2024. Law enforcement was made aware of his criminal history in July, but he remained at large for over a month.

Not only is vetting a challenge at the border, but the Harris-Biden administration has also scaled back enforcement of immigration laws in the interior, particularly for criminal illegal aliens.

In September 2021, then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas instructed ICE personnel that an illegal alien’s criminal conviction was not enough to justify investigation and removal by ICE, contrary to existing U.S. immigration laws.

This lenient approach is reflected in ICE’s data, with over 617,000 criminal illegal aliens at large in the U.S. as of January 2024, up from around 407,000 in January 2023. Meanwhile, ICE arrests of criminal aliens have declined significantly.

Detainers issued by ICE to local law enforcement have also decreased, despite the surge in illegal immigration since early 2021.

A former senior DHS official noted at the beginning of the crisis that the administration shielded the majority of illegal aliens from enforcement actions, purportedly to focus on public safety threats.

However, the administration has failed even in that aspect. Under the open-border and anti-enforcement policies of the Biden-Harris administration, Americans are less safe in their own communities until the border is secured and immigration laws are enforced.

Rep. Mark E. Green, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, represents Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District.