Under Biden, 500,000 illegal immigrants have disappeared

Half a million illegal immigrants have disappeared into the U.S. during Biden’s border crisis.

Where does this number come from?

• “Gotaways” – illegal immigrants who have escaped into the U.S. without being apprehended
• Migrants who have been caught and released into the U.S. with a “Notice to Report,” but who have failed to show up to an ICE office as ordered.

On “gotaways,” Customs and Border Protection documents confirm more than 273,000 illegal immigrants escaped into the U.S. under Biden through August. Border Patrol sources say an additional 100,000 escaped into the U.S. in October and November. And outlets including CNN and The Washington Post reported that CBP was facing upwards of 1,500 gotaways per day last year, allowing us to come up with an estimate for the months where CBP hasn’t put out data. That means a conservative estimate of half a million. Here’s the break-down:

But experts say CBP’s estimates are actually too low:

• Former Acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan: The official numbers on gotaways “are bullshit – they are way low. By the end of December, it will be 600,000 'gotaways.' And that’s even low — there are many 'gotaways' they aren't able to count."
• National Border Patrol Council Spokesman Chris Cabrera: “There’s no way we’re anywhere near that low of a number [400,000]. That number is at least twice, if not three times that number. There’s a huge number of gotaways.”

And gotaways do not include those illegal immigrants who crossed the border undetected, nor the number of illegal immigrants who have been caught, released, and have disappeared. The Washington Examiner reports that of the 100,000 released with a “Notice to Report” by August 31, over 47,000 have failed to actually report like required.

Importantly, Biden’s Department of Homeland Security does not release data nearly as often as they should. The Trump administration released estimated gotaways, Biden has not. CBP’s website has a line for reporting “Notice to Report” data, but that line has been left blank.

Border patrol agents say the crisis has only “gotten worse,” but the Biden administration has turned their backs on these agents, on border communities, and on the American people.