A group of Republican attorneys general from 27 states formally called for Department of Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to end the “catch-and-release loophole” that the Biden administration has been using to release millions of illegal aliens into the U.S.
In a rulemaking petition, the coalition of state leaders urged the DHS to amend its “flagrantly unlawful” policies that have exacerbated the national border crisis and an unprecedented influx of migrants. Florida attorney general Ashley Moody led the signed petition, which was filed Tuesday.
Under U.S. Code 1225, both illegal and legal asylum-seekers who have a “credible fear of persecution . . . shall be detained” if they are not allowed to enter the country immediately.
However, the petition notes that DHS has been exploiting U.S. Code 1226, which states that migrants to which it applies “may be arrested and detained” or may be released. Under this immigration loophole, more than 100,000 were released into the U.S. in August alone.
“As the court found in Florida, DHS’s mass release policies have been ‘akin to posting a flashing ‘Come In, We’re Open’ sign on the southern border,'” the petition reads. “In August 2023, Border Patrol released 100,585 aliens under [U.S. Code 1226]. Even if the numbers merely remain the same, DHS is releasing aliens at a rate of over one million per year, and that does not include the aliens being released on parole under [U.S. Code 1182].”
The petition comes on the heels of a GOP House report that shows the DHS has failed to remove more than 99 percent of 2,148,738 illegal aliens released into the U.S. in the past two years since President Joe Biden took office, among other record-high statistics.
Last month, Moody said over seven million migrants have crossed the southern border under the Biden administration.
Besides Florida, the attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming all signed the petition to call for change.
“We are seeing a national security and public safety crisis unfold right before our eyes, and it stems directly from the federal government’s inability to secure the U.S. border. We cannot stand idly by as our immigration policies allow deadly fentanyl to keep pouring into our communities and criminal organizations continue to prey on the vulnerable by smuggling them into our nation illegally,” said New Hampshire attorney general John Formella in a statement provided to National Review.
“The time is now for the federal government to make fast and serious fixes to its border security strategies. The Biden Administration must immediately change course to preserve the safety and security of New Hampshire and our entire country.”