There’s been a record-breaking zero releases at the US southern border over the last 13 months, according to a new report from the Daily Caller.
The figure is the lowest in over three decades.
It’s reckoned some 10.3 million illegals were allowed to cross the southern border during the Biden presidency.
“Thirteen straight months of ZERO releases at the border. Under President Donald Trump’s leadership, we are delivering the most secure border in American history,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said of the accomplishment.
“The days of catch and release are over. We are enforcing the nation’s laws and quickly sending illegal aliens back to their home countries, ensuring the safety and sovereignty of our nation.”
News of the stunning reversal of Biden’s open-border policies comes at the same time as more worrying reports that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is abandoning plans to convert a number of newly purchased facilities into mega-centers for detention, despite a $38 billion plan for expanding detention capacity.
One of the facilities is in Social Circle, Georgia.
“The City of Social Circle has received notification from Congressman Mike Collins that the Department of Homeland Security… is no longer pursuing an ICE detention facility within the City of Social Circle,” the local government said in a statement Thursday.
Originally, the facilities was planned to house up to 10,000 detainees—more than twice the population of the city—in addition to over 2,000 employees.
The facility cost the federal government $128.5 million, more than four times the price paid for it in 2023.
According to The New York Times, a total of seven facilities, from New Jersey to Utah, will be scrapped.
DHS began to rethink the plans to extend detention facilities after Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem was replaced by Markwayne Mullin.
It’s unclear what DHS will do with the facilities, many of which have been subject to legal challenges to prevent them from being repurposed for detention.
“From day one, DHS has remained singularly focused on removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from the United States and is always evaluating the best methods to do so,” a spokesperson said in a statement to CNN on Friday.
“These heinous criminals, once arrested, should be removed at lightning speed, not housed on American soil at the taxpayer’s expense. DHS is moving swiftly to utilize EXISTING detention space with our state and county partners.”
