In a letter dated Dec. 8, 2023, Texas Congressman Pete Sessions and 22 of his Republican colleagues expressed concern to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) about the fact that, in fiscal 2023, U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered 2.48 million migrants nationwide who were attempting to make an unauthorized entry. In addition, over the past three years, an estimated 1.7 million illegal border crossers have entered the United States undetected.

The lawmakers were particularly worried about the possibility that uncontrolled immigration is causing a rise in crime rates in major cities across the United States. So, they asked GAO to update its July 17, 2018, report that “provided data on the number and nationality of noncitizens incarcerated in federal and state prisons and local jails.”

They expected the updated report to provide “crucial information regarding the current state of illegal immigration.” While GAO eventually did issue the report, the update doesn’t provide the information Congress needs to determine the extent to which uncontrolled immigration is contributing to an increase in crime in our major cities.

The problem is, no one knows how many of the 5.4 million inadmissible migrants the Biden-Harris administration has released into the country are committing crimes in the United States. Nor does anyone know how many of the almost 2 million gotaways are committing crimes.

The value of the report is diminished by the fact that it bases its statistics and comparisons on “noncitizens” instead of on migrants who entered the country illegally during the current administration. The Department of Homeland Security uses the term “noncitizen” to refer to all migrants, which includes migrants who are here legally in addition to migrants who are here in violation of our laws.

Law professor Kevin R. Johnson has praised the use of this term because it acknowledges the humanity of non-Americans. While this may be the right way to look at its use, the term can blur the distinction between legal and illegal migrants, as it did with Session’s request.


Read more at

https://thehill.com/opinion/immigrat...gration-crime/

Published originally by The Hill.

Nolan Rappaport was detailed to the House Judiciary Committee as an Executive Branch Immigration Law Expert for three years. He subsequently served as an immigration counsel for the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims for four years. Prior to working on the Judiciary Committee, he wrote decisions for the Board of Immigration Appeals for 20 years.