Under President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, nearly a million unauthorized migrants have reportedly received what the House Judiciary Committee describes as “quiet amnesty.”

A newly released 16-page report from the committee on Thursday reveals that over 700,000 migrants have had their immigration cases dropped or closed amid the substantial influx of people at the southern border, spurred by the current administration’s policies.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to the report, also neglected to submit the required documentation to initiate deportation proceedings for about 200,000 additional cases.

“Through administrative maneuvering at both the Justice Department and DHS, the Biden-Harris Administration has already ensured that nearly 1 million illegal aliens can remain in the United States without the possibility of deportation — and that trend shows no sign of stopping,” the Republican-led committee stated.

“This sort of quiet amnesty has become a staple of the Biden-Harris Administration’s immigration courts,” the report further asserts.

Data from the committee, spanning from January 20, 2021, to June 30, 2024, show that most migrants had their cases dismissed, amounting to 459,356 cases closed within that period. Additionally, 172,645 cases were formally terminated, while 71,465 were closed administratively.

This represents an increase of 575% from the approximately 104,000 cases that were dismissed, terminated, or administratively closed during the previous Trump administration, based on an analysis by The NY Post.

During Trump’s term, 90,692 cases were terminated, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, which includes dismissals since the Justice Department did not differentiate between the two categories before the Biden-Harris administration.

Under Trump, 13,590 cases were also administratively closed, as documented by the House Judiciary Committee.

Over 85% of the record number of asylum seekers apprehended at the southern border during the Biden administration were released into the U.S. while awaiting their hearings, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas noted in January.

Currently, around 700 immigration judges handle an unprecedented caseload of more than 3 million backlogged cases, as recorded in December 2023.

This backlog prompted Attorney General Merrick Garland, appointed by Biden, to reinstate the policy of “administrative closure” in July 2021, reversing restrictions implemented during the Trump administration. He reasoned that it would allow judges to prioritize “higher-priority cases.”

An April 2022 memo from Kerry Doyle, Principal Legal Advisor at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, echoed the backlog concern, suggesting that cases not affecting national security, public safety, or border security should be dismissed to ease court congestion.

This decision granted DHS attorneys the discretion to avoid filing a “Notice to Appear” in certain cases or to remove low-priority cases from the docket entirely.

Former EOIR Director David Neal further advised judges to favor DHS lawyers advocating for case dismissals in a memo, supporting the dismissal trend.

Consequently, these policies have left hundreds of thousands of migrants in legal uncertainty, as the dismissals do not grant them formal documentation.

However, these asylum seekers may remain in the U.S. “indefinitely without facing immigration consequences,” as they are not actively placed in deportation proceedings, the House report indicates.

The “Remain in Mexico” policy, implemented during Trump’s administration, required most migrants to wait in Mexico for their immigration hearings, a strategy that reportedly cut border crossings by up to 70%, according to border officials.

House Speaker Mike Johnson recently mentioned that he urged Biden to reinstate this policy, but Biden declined, allegedly responding, “‘It’s complicated…Mexico doesn’t want that,’” according to Johnson (R-La.).

As border issues intensified, Biden issued an executive order in June to temporarily close the border if crossings exceeded 2,500 daily for a week, though the order allows up to 1.8 million migrants to enter through alternative methods, such as the humanitarian parole process criticized by congressional Republicans as exploitative.

Despite these measures, border crossings have since dropped by 55%, and DHS has highlighted the removal of over 700,000 migrants in fiscal year 2024 — the highest figure since 2010, during the Obama administration.

Immigration has consistently ranked as a key concern for voters in seven battleground states — Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia — as they prepare for the 2024 election.

A recent survey by The Wall Street Journal found that Trump holds a 16-point lead (52% to 36%) over Harris in handling illegal immigration, based on voter preferences.

During a CNN town hall, Democratic presidential nominee Harris acknowledged the need for more immigration judges but defended the administration’s approach, stating that they did “the right thing” on the border issue.

Representatives from the Department of Homeland Security have not yet responded to requests for comment on the report’s findings.

{Matzav.com}