The Biden administration has been caught red-handed manipulating immigration enforcement data, according to explosive revelations from top officials within the Department of Homeland Security. Not that it’s useful information now, given he’s probably lying on a beach somewhere!
At a glance:
• DHS officials accuse Biden administration of inflating ICE arrest numbers by counting migrants who were caught and released rather than detained and deported
• A senior ICE official claimed over two-thirds of reported arrests last year were “enforcement theater” with migrants quickly released back into communities
• ICE’s interior arrests more than doubled from 234 daily under Biden to 632 daily under Trump
• Trump administration recorded 1,155 gang member arrests and 39 suspected terrorist arrests in less than two months – nearly triple the rate under Biden
• Rep. Mark Green linked Biden’s catch-and-release policy to tragic deaths of Americans Laken Riley and Kayla Hamilton
Biden Administration Accused of “Cooking the Books” on Immigration
Homeland Security officials have leveled serious accusations against the Biden administration, claiming they deliberately inflated immigration enforcement numbers to create a false impression of effectiveness. The revelation comes from multiple senior officials who say the previous administration counted illegal immigrants who were simply processed and released as “arrests” in their official statistics.
Todd Lyons, Acting Director at ICE, directly challenged the integrity of Biden’s reported immigration enforcement data in a bombshell statement.
“We found tens of thousands of cases that were recorded as arrests when, in fact, these instances were illegal aliens that were simply processed and released into American communities,” said Lyons.
According to officials, over two-thirds of the arrests recorded last year were nothing more than “enforcement theater,” with migrants quickly returning to American streets rather than facing deportation. The practice of counting these “pass-through” arrests allegedly came directly from the Biden administration’s Homeland Security Department leadership.
Trump Administration Shows Dramatic Improvement in Enforcement
The contrast between the two administrations has become starkly apparent in just the first few weeks of President Trump’s return to office. ICE recorded 32,809 interior arrests from January 20 to March 10, approaching the total for all of 2024 when excluding the questionable “pass-through” arrests counted by the previous administration.
More significantly, these recent arrests included 1,155 known or suspected gang members and 39 known or suspected terrorists. Officials report this represents nearly three times the rate of such high-priority arrests compared to the Biden administration’s enforcement efforts.
NEWS ICE and DHS officials today said a review of their records showed that the Biden administration "cooked the books" and "falsely inflated" ICE arrest data, and were "purposely misleading the American public" by categorizing illegal aliens who were processed by ICE and…
— Elizabeth MacDonald (@LizMacDonaldFOX) March 12, 2025
One senior ICE official explained how the previous administration’s policies created long-term problems beyond the statistical manipulation.
“This gave them a pathway to establishing a long-term residency here in the U.S.,” the official stated regarding the documentation migrants received during these superficial processing encounters.