DETROIT (ChurchMilitant.com) – Since President Joe Biden took office in 2021, approximately 3.8 million individuals have entered the United States through its borders. Almost half of them entered illegally without detection.
Over the past three years, Syracuse University’s TRAC immigration database recorded 2,345,600 individuals receiving “notices to appear” before an immigration court. NTAs are typically issued to individuals who arrive on U.S. soil, surrender to Border Patrol and claim asylum. If the case appears valid, it is scheduled for a hearing, often years in advance, to decide one’s eligibility to stay or face deportation.
‘Gotaways’
In fiscal year 2023, which spans from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, the Department of Homeland Security issued over 1.23 million NTAs. However, these figures do not provide the complete picture, as more than 1.5 million individuals, referred to as “gotaways,” are estimated to have crossed the border undetected over the past three years, with this number steadily increasing.
In May 2023, U.S. Border Patrol reported nearly 530,000 gotaways for the current fiscal year, approaching the previous year’s DHS-reported record of 600,000 and exceeding the 2021 figure of 389,000. The latest gotaway figures remain unclear, as both the U.S. Border Patrol and the DHS were unable to provide updated data.
Numbers Continue to Rise
Despite less than ten days remaining in the fiscal year, daily migrant arrivals continue to rise. In August, over 180,000 NTAs were issued, a 19% increase compared to the prior record of 151,910 issued in July. The overwhelming caseload has resulted in a backlog of nearly 2.7 million pending immigration court cases, according to TRAC.
Following their border crossings, migrants have been dispersed across all 50 states. Over the past year, four states have borne the brunt of the crisis: Texas with 170,475 individuals, California with 165,186, Florida with 152,048 and New York with 145,690.