House Republican Conference

09/27/2024 | Press release | Archived content

Hundreds of Thousands With Criminal Records, Including Rapists and Murderers, Illegally Crossed Border Under Border Czar Harris

In a letter to Representative Tony Gonzales (TX-23), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shared new data showing hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants with criminal records have been released into the United States by this Administration and their open border czar, Kamala Harris. According to this newly shared ICE data on illegal immigrants, there are 425,431 convicted criminals and 222,141 with pending criminal charges. Those include: 62,231 convicted of assault, 14,301 convicted of burglary, 56,533 with drug convictions, and 13,099 convicted of homicide. An additional 2,521 have kidnapping convictions and 15,811 have sexual assault convictions. There are an additional 1,845 with pending homicide charges, 42,915 with assault charges, 3,266 with burglary charges, and 4,250 with assault charges.
KAMALA HARRIS HAS FAILED AS BORDER CZAR:
  • Since Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took office:
  • In September, ICE released data showing hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants with criminal records are loose in the United States.
    • As of July 21, 2024, there were 662,566 noncitizens with criminal histories on ICE's national docket. There are 425,431 convicted criminals and 222,141 with pending criminal charges not in detention including:
      • 14,301 convicted of burglary
      • 56,533 with drug convictions
      • 13,099 convicted of homicide
      • 2,231 convicted of assault
      • An additional:
        • 2,521 have kidnapping convictions
        • and 15,811 have sexual assault convictions.
  • In August, there were 107,503 illegal immigrant encounters at our Southern Border.
    • This is roughly 3,467 daily encounters, which is over three times more than the definition of a "crisis" set by Obama's DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson who said in 2019 that "more than 1,000" encounters a day "overwhelms the system."
  • In March 2021, Harris was appointed border czar.
  • Following today's visit to Arizona, Border czar Harris will have only visited our Southern Border two times since taking office in 2021.
  • By every metric Harris has failed as border czar:
    • Illegal immigrant crossings of our Southern Border nearly doubled under Harris' watch reaching over 300,000 in a single month.
      • This is the highest number of illegal immigrant crossings in recorded history.
    • For 40 consecutive months, illegal immigrant crossings were higher under border czar Harris than the highest month under President Trump.
    • OVER 200,000 Americans have died from the illegal drugs being smuggled across the Southern Border by the criminal cartels.
    • In August alone, CBP seized close to 1,700 pounds of fentanyl pouring across our borders.
    • From FY21 through mid-July 2024, the Border Patrol recorded 52,058 arrests of illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds.
      • This is an OVER 130% increase compared to President Trump's Administration.
      • In August, ICE arrested the leader of a violent criminal organization who is wanted by authorities in Columbia for homicide and arms trafficking. He illegally crossed the Southern Border in September 2023 and was released by the Biden-Harris Administration.
    • According to DHS, as border czar, Harris oversaw the misplacement of nearly 300,000 illegal immigrant children that ICE has "no assurance" that these unaccounted illegal immigrant children "are safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor."
    • Under Harris, over 350 of these individuals whose names appear on the terrorist watchlist were stopped trying to cross the Southern Border.
      • So far in FY24, there have been 93 individuals whose names appear on the terrorist watchlist who were stopped trying to enter the U.S. illegally between ports of entry at the Southern Border.
      • In April, ICE arrested an Uzbek national living in Baltimore with alleged ISIS ties. 33-year-old Jovokhir Attoev crossed the border illegally in 2022, was released by the Biden-Harris Administration, and lived freely in the United States for two years before his arrest.
      • In June, ICE arrested eight men from Tajikistan suspected of having ISIS ties. One of the men crossed the border using the CBP One app.
      • Also in June, NBC News reported that over 50 illegal immigrants with ties to ISIS were on the loose in our nation after having been released by the Biden Administration.
      • In August, House Judiciary Committee Republicans released a report showing that between FY2021 and FY2023, at least 99 illegal immigrants on the FBI terror watchlist were released into the US after being arrested by the Border Patrol at the Southern Border.
        • Additionally, the Committee found that, due to woefully inadequate information sharing under border czar Harris, 27 illegal immigrants on the terrorist watchlist were granted bond by an Immigration judge, and an additional four were granted asylum.