By Michael McManus
FAIR
Only days after the President issued an executive order claiming to help secure the border, the Border Patrol issued a memo to agents in the San Diego Sector directing them to release illegal aliens if they are from certain countries. The memo, obtained by the Washington Examiner, told agents to release illegal aliens from “hard to very hard to remove” countries, including most aliens from Eastern Hemisphere countries. The memo is yet another sign that the Biden Administration’s plan is conducting business as usual, and that the chaos will continue along the southern border.
The only exception to the mass release policy is one carved out for aliens from six countries: Russia, Georgia, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Aliens from these countries, which represent the terror-prone Central Asia region, must be processed through expedited removal. The exception seemingly indicates that the Biden Administration is well aware of the terror threat emanating from these countries, and that smugglers from this region with ties to ISIS have been encountered shepherding migrants to the U.S.
Notably, however, China is not on the list of countries whose nationals will be sent into expedited removal – despite the fact that 56 percent of Chinese aliens encountered this year were in the San Diego Sector. Thus, despite the President’s executive order, it appears that all Chinese nationals entering illegally will continue to be released into American communities. The ongoing mass release policy is no doubt the reason why more and more Chinese have been showing up at our borders. Since January 2021, the number of Chinese nationals encountered at our borders has tripled, and illegal aliens from China have been arrested for everything from espionage against sensitive U.S. sites, to setting up bioweapons laboratories.
The increase of illegal aliens from China reflects the broader trend of illegal aliens from the Eastern Hemisphere arriving at our southern border. Prior to 2019, encounters of aliens from the Eastern Hemisphere were around 45,000 each year. After the Biden Administration took office in 2021, the number rocketed to nearly 150,000 per year.
Part of this increase is also being driven by migrants from Africa. For example, in Fiscal Year (FY) 2019, just 20 migrants were encountered from Mauritania at the Southwest border. Yet, the number of Mauritanians encountered in FY 2023 was over 15,000, an increase of 75,000 percent in just four years. Encounters of nationals from other African countries have also spiked, such as encounters of Senegalese (67,000 percent increase) and Guineans, (10,000 percent increase).
Frustratingly, the Biden Administration is justifying the mass release of these aliens by claiming they are “hard” or “very hard” to deport. It is true that many governments in the Eastern Hemisphere have long been unwilling to take back their nationals. And their refusal to cooperate creates more and more danger for Americans as the number of aliens increases. Yet, the Biden Administration has done little to nothing to insist that foreign countries take back their nationals when they are apprehended at our borders. In fact, it has rolled back some of the sanctions the Trump Administration put in place on countries that refused to cooperate. By doing nothing, the Biden Administration is allowing our immigration system to be held hostage by foreign countries, and accepting that nothing can be done. Instead, it should be sending its diplomats across the globe with the message that countries which do not take back their nationals will be severely sanctioned, as is authorized by federal law.
While the Biden Administration throws up its hands in defeat, encounters in the San Diego sector are skyrocketing. Since January 2021, encounters in this sector have quadrupled, and now account for 15 percent of encounters at the southern border. During this fiscal year alone (FY 2024) encounters in the San Diego Sector are up 40 percent. With the Border Patrol’s new directive, most of these aliens will be released, just like before, and Americans – and the rule of law – will continue to suffer from the Biden Administration’s destructive open-borders policies.
