Released illegal entrants on southwest border: 3.18 million. These are illegal aliens who have entered the country unlawfully, been encountered or apprehended by the Customs and Border Protection’s Border Patrol or Office of Field Operations, but then deliberately released into the nation by the Biden administration.3
The source for this number is Office of Homeland Security Statistics, Department of Homeland Security, “Immigration Enforcement and Legal Processes Monthly Tables”, January 5, 2024, (
https://www.dhs.gov/ohss/topics/immigra ... hly-tables), (accessed January 12, 2024). The southwest border release figure was calculated from OHSS excel table “CBP SW Border Encounters Book-Out Outcomes by Agency: Fiscal Years 2014 to 2023 (September 2023)”. The release figure includes “USBP releases” and “OFO paroles”. The calculation also assumes that 70 percent of cases transferred to ICE were subsequently released into the U.S. For a discussion of these data see Andrew R. Arthur, “DHS’s Latest Weekend News Dump Is a Stunner: CBP has released at least 2 million Southwest border migrants in last 2 fiscal years; could exceed 3 million when all other releases are included”, Center for Immigration Studies, January 6, 2024. (
https://cis.org/Arthur/DHSs-Latest-Week ... mp-Stunner) (Accessed January 12, 2024.)
Released inadmissible entrants on northern land border, air ports of entry and coastal border: 168,000. These are illegal aliens who have entered the country unlawfully between ports of entry or without documentation at ports of entry, been encountered by the Customs and Border Protection, but then deliberately released into the nation by the Biden administration.4
Office of Homeland Security Statistics, Department of Homeland Security, “Immigration Enforcement and Legal Processes Monthly Tables”, January 5, 2024, (
https://www.dhs.gov/ohss/topics/immigra ... and-legal- processes-monthly-tables), (accessed January 12, 2024). The estimate is based on the table “Nationwide CBP Encounters by Encounter Type and Region: Fiscal Years 2014 to 2023 (September 2023)”. The estimate assumes that 70 percent of the enforcement encounters in the relevant regions resulted in a release.
“Got-aways”: 1.7 million. These are unlawful aliens that the border patrol observed crossing the border but were unable to apprehend.5
See The Biden Border Crisis: New Data and Testimony Show How the Biden Administration Opened the Southwest Border and Abandoned Interior Enforcement, Interim Staff Report of the Committee on the Judiciary and Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, U.S. House of Representatives, October 9, 2023, p. 1. (
https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-s ... timony.pdf ) (Accessed January 12, 2024.) For a discussion of “got-aways” see Andrew R. Arthur, “Mayorkas Redefines—but Still Fails to Comply With—the ‘Operational Control’ Mandate,” Center for Immigrations Studies, March 31, 2023,
https://cis.org/Arthur/Mayorkas- Redefines-Still-Fails-Comply-Operational-Control-Mandate (accessed September 13, 2023). Arthur states, “Even those dismal apprehension numbers don’t tell the whole story, because they don’t include the almost 1.4 million illegal migrants who were detected entering illegally but who successfully evaded agents at the Southwest border under Biden, known colloquially as ‘got-aways’: at least 385,000 in FY [fiscal year] 2023, according to Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz; 599,000 in FY 2022; and 389,155 in FY 2021.”
Undetected entries without inspection: 255,000. The Border Patrol estimates the number of undetected entries without inspection (EWI) on the border; these are individuals who are likely to have unlawfully crossed the border without being observed by the Border Patrol.6
Border Patrol Chief testified that counting undetected border crossing would increase the “gotaway” number by 10 percent to 20 percent. “Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz Testifies Before Homeland Security Committee in Texas,” CNN-News 18, March 15, 2023,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APlekTTMxRY (accessed September 13, 2023). The number in the text is 15 percent of the got-away number.
Unaccompanied minors: 449,000 These are individuals who claim to be minors and have entered the nation without legal authorization and without an accompanying adult.7
Office of Refugee Resettlement, Office of the Administration for Children & Families , U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Unaccompanied Children, Fact Sheets and Data: Referrals”,
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/about/ucs/facts-and-data (Accessed January 11, 2024).
CHNV Parole Program: 390,000. In January 2023 the Biden Administration created a new “parole” program in which individuals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela will be flown directly into the U.S., bypassing border control and normal immigration procedures.8
Office of Homeland Security Statistics, op. cit. See table “Confirmed CHNV Beneficiaries by Process: Fiscal Year 2023 (September 2023)”. The table shows there were 312,000 beneficiaries of the program in FY 2023. An additional 78,000 individuals are assumed to have participated in the program in the first quarter of FY 2024 based on rates from the last quarter in FY 2023.
Longer-term visa overstays: 600,000. This category represents the estimated inflow of temporary visa holders whose visas expired in FY 2021, 2022, and 2023 but who currently remain in the U.S. beyond their legal departure deadline.9
For given year, a new visa over-stayer is a foreign individual who did not leave the U.S. even though their temporary visa expired during the year. In FY 2021, there were 171,000 new visa over-stayers as COVID reduced the number of visa entries and exits. In FY 2022, the number of new over-stayers rose 795,000. This appears to be a record number. Overstay data is not available for FY2023. Historically, around 60 percent of new visa over- stayers remain in country for at least 12 months after visa expiration. The analysis assumes there were a cumulative 8 million new visa over-stayers in FY2021, FY2022, and FY2023, and that a third of these individuals remained in the U.S. at the end of FY2023. See tables 1 and 7 in the following reports from the Department of Homeland Security, “Fiscal Year 2019 Entry/Exit Overstay Report,” March 30, 2020,
https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files ... entry-and- exit-overstay-report.pdf (accessed September 13, 2023); “Fiscal Year 2022 Entry/ Exit Overstay Report”, (
https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2023- 07/23_0707_FY22_FY23_CBP_Integrated_Entry_Exit_Overstay_Report.pdf) (accessed January 13, 2024).
Total illegal alien inflows: 6.74 million. Summing the above figures shows that some 6.7 million illegal aliens entered the nation from January 2021 through December 2023. (See table 1 at the end of the paper.)
