Washington, Oct 6 (IANS) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took limited action on millions of potential nonimmigrant overstay leads between fiscal years 2021 and 2024, including cases deemed potential national security risks, according to a report by the Department of Homeland Security’s independent watchdog that was highlighted by DHS on Monday.
The DHS Office of Inspector General, in a report issued September 29, examined ICE’s handling of nonimmigrant overstay leads during fiscal years 2021 through 2024. DHS separately issued a statement Monday drawing attention to the watchdog’s findings and criticising the previous Biden administration.
ICE received 3,145,375 leads involving possible overstays during the four years, according to figures cited by DHS from the inspector general’s report.
Of those, 104,049, or about 3.3 per cent, were categorised as potential national security and public safety concerns.
Only 496 investigations were opened from that group, resulting in eight arrests, according to DHS’s summary of the watchdog findings.
The remaining 3,041,326 overstay leads, or 96.7 per cent, were classified as non-priority.
Of the 2,837,188 non-priority leads sent to ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, five were investigated after being identified as possible public safety threats, resulting in two arrests, DHS said.
The inspector general’s review covered fiscal years 2021 through 2024, a period that largely coincided with the Biden administration.
The Trump administration seized on the report Monday to criticise its predecessor’s immigration enforcement record.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the findings showed that immigration authorities under the previous administration had failed to act on millions of potential overstay leads.
“The degree of the Biden Administration’s dereliction of duty, which needlessly put American lives at risk, is staggering and enraging,” Mullin said.
He said the Trump administration would “target and remove as many illegal aliens as possible to make America safe again.”
Mullin’s comments represent the administration’s political interpretation of the report. The underlying review was conducted by the DHS Office of Inspector General, which provides independent oversight of the department’s programmes and operations.
The watchdog’s figures concern leads involving potential overstays. They should not be interpreted to mean that every person identified in those leads was ultimately determined to have violated immigration law or posed a national security or public safety threat.
A nonimmigrant overstay generally occurs when a foreign national is lawfully admitted to the United States for a specified period but remains beyond the authorised stay.
That distinguishes overstays from people who enter the United States without inspection across a land border. Foreign nationals can enter legally on temporary visas or, in some cases, through programmes that do not require a visa, and subsequently fall out of lawful status by remaining beyond their authorised period.
Visa overstays have long been one component of the broader U.S. debate over illegal immigration and immigration enforcement. DHS separately publishes Entry/Exit Overstay Reports that contain country-by-country information on foreign visitors expected to depart the United States during a fiscal year.
–IANS
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