Quote:President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released nearly 1,400 illegal alien convicted criminals from detention into American communities in less than three months, data shows.

The latest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data reveals that from October through December 18, Biden’s DHS has released 1,363 illegal alien convicts into American communities along with more than 1,800 illegal aliens with pending criminal charges against them.

Of the illegal alien convicts released from DHS custody, 463 bonded out, 421 were given an order of recognizance, 371 were given an order of supervision, and 108 were paroled.

In total, more than 35,000 illegal aliens were released from DHS custody into the United States interior from October through December 18. Most significantly, the agency seems to be increasing releases, as those freed from custody in the first 18 days of this month eclipse the total number of releases last month.

RJ Hauman, with the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), suggested that the Biden administration may be violating the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) with the mass release of illegal alien convicts from DHS custody.

Specifically, Hauman cites this INA statute:

The Attorney General may release an alien described in paragraph (1) only if the Attorney General decides pursuant to section 3521 of title 18 that release of the alien from custody is necessary to provide protection to a witness, a potential witness, a person cooperating with an investigation into major criminal activity, or an immediate family member or close associate of a witness, potential witness, or person cooperating with such an investigation, and the alien satisfies the Attorney General that the alien will not pose a danger to the safety of other persons or of property and is likely to appear for any scheduled proceeding. A decision relating to such release shall take place in accordance with a procedure that considers the severity of the offense committed by the alien. [Emphasis added]

“The law explicitly requires that those who cross the border illegally be detained, but the Biden administration clearly doesn’t want to detain or deport anyone,” Hauman told Breitbart News.

“So it isn’t surprising that they are attempting to undermine the rule of law by not only cutting overall detention capacity but illegally releasing criminal aliens as well,” he continued. “Public safety is under attack to advance their open borders agenda.”

As Breitbart News has chronicled, the Biden administration has sought to gut interior immigration enforcement through so-called “sanctuary country” measures that protect most of the nation’s 11 to 22 million illegal aliens from arrest and deportation by ICE agents.

Last year, for instance, Biden’s DHS drastically cut deportations of illegal aliens living in American communities — some by more than 90 percent compared to 2019. The agency has also reduced arrests of illegal aliens living throughout the United States by more than 70 percent.

Quote:Representative Veronica Escobar (D-TX) said Thursday on CNN’s “At This Hour” that the surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border is a “Western Hemispheric refugee crisis of historic proportions.”

Escobar called for the Biden administration to mobilize the State Department.

Guest anchor Amara Walker said, “In terms of your party, right, I’m sorry to cut you off. We’re running out of time. How do you feel about how the Biden administration has been handling the surge? Is there a comprehensive policy, a strategy? Where do the Democrats stand? Are you united on this?”

Escobar said, “Secretary Mayorkas has been doing absolutely everything he possibly can. He’s been really a key leader on this, on helping communities like El Paso. But, you know, again, it is going to take legislation, and it’s going to take a multifaceted approach. The Biden administration, I think, needs to really also mobilize the State Department in the same way that the Department of Homeland Security has been mobilized. This is a western hemispheric refugee crisis of historic proportions. There needs to be far more diplomacy and the State Department involvement in addressing what is not going to get better any time soon.”