Florida AG Reveals ICE Lost Track of Thousands of Illegal Aliens

On Tuesday, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody released video evidence showing that officials from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lost track of well over 150,000 illegal immigrants who had entered the United States. Tens of thousands of the illegals were intentionally released without charging documents, formal legal documents requiring them to appear before an immigration judge. 

Moody declared that ICE officials are fighting a losing battle against illegal immigration because of President Biden’s destructive policies and his intentional destruction of the nation’s immigration system.  

“Since day one of his administration, President Biden has purposefully broken down the structure and law enforcement at our nation’s border with Mexico — all while confusing and misleading the nation about this devious, reckless scheme. If Title 42 ends, the administration may blame the mass surge of unvetted migrants on this rule’s remission, but don’t be fooled. They’re playing fast and loose with the lives of Americans to advance an absurd political agenda,” said Moody. 

She continued, “As our litigation uncovered, this has been this administration’s plan all along. They’ve let in and lost track of hundreds of thousands of inadmissible immigrants, and it will get worse if Title 42 expires. We will continue our litigation efforts to force Biden to follow the law and try to mitigate this national disaster.”  

The ICE training videos obtained by the Florida Attorney General’s office show officials discussing logistical problems, such as the releasing of illegals without charging documents making it much harder for ICE officials to locate and remove people illegally in the country.  

In November 2021, the Biden administration instituted a plan known as “Operation Horizon,” which has ICE authorities attempting to find illegal migrants and send them several documents, including “notices to appear” in court, where immigration judges will determine if they can stay in the country or be deported.  

According to Moody’s office, one redacted training video has an official explaining that, since March 2021, ICE “has released noncitizens at the border and directed the immigrants to report to the nearest ICE office in the intended area of residence. The official states that this process does not address the [underlying] challenges regarding the agency’s congressionally-mandated responsibility to locate, arrest, and place into removal proceedings those noncitizens who are not in the possession of a valid, unexpired entry document.”  

Operation Horizon, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security directive, is the federal government’s attempt to locate and place illegal immigrants into removal proceedings. An ICE official explains what happens under Operation Horizon in another video excerpt, stating: “Operation Horizon, the background on this … you know over the summer, we had well over 150,000 folks come in. They were issued a piece of paper that said, ‘find somebody in ICE,’ and that was pretty much it. There was no processing. I know this isn’t something that you guys asked for, and I can assure you that no one in the criminal alien program asked for it either.” 

In September, as part of their litigation efforts regarding Biden’s failed border policies, Moody’s office obtained a memo revealing what the federal government plans to do in the event Title 42 expires and illegal immigrants overrun the border: simply “mass-release” the illegals in the interior.  

Florida is not alone in its concern over ICE allowing thousands of illegals to freely roam the nation. Yesterday, Senators Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn — both Republicans from Tennessee — after learning of ICE’s plan to release an unspecified number of single adult migrants into their state, sent a letter to ICE:  

We write today to express deep concern about recent reports our offices have received that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will soon transport busloads of illegal immigrants to Tennessee. Specifically, we have learned that the New Orleans ICE field office has been working in coordination with the Tennessee Immigration and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), a left-wing immigration advocacy group, to bus these immigrants to Tennessee. We have learned that as many as 50 single-adult, detained illegal immigrants could be bused to Tennessee at a time, with the possibility of multiple busloads each week. Further, these individuals would be released into Tennessee while they await court proceedings. Given the previous instances of ICE busing immigrants to Tennessee without notice, we are very troubled by these new reports and request that you provide more information about this situation. 

Last April, The Washington Times reported that ICE was getting ready to release as many as 600,000 illegal immigrants into communities before the end of September in anticipation of the chaos expected if the Title 42 border policy ends.

The ICE releases of illegals into the U.S. highlight the truth of the immigration crisis at the nation’s southern border — a truth that the Biden Administration willfully continues to ignore, and one that will cost our nation dearly if we can’t stop the flow of illegals into the country. Our sovereignty is under duress — brought forth by our own government.  

To learn more about the immigration crisis and what can be done about it, click here.