Attorneys General Demand Biden End ‘Catch and Release’ of Millions of Illegal Aliens Amid Terrorism Concerns

A coalition of Republican attorneys general are calling on President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to close its catch and release network that has freed nearly three million border crossers and illegal aliens into the United States.

This week, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, along with 26 fellow Republican attorneys general, filed a Petition for Rulemaking to DHS, asking the agency to end its catch and release network that includes a parole pipeline where border crossers and illegal aliens arrive at the southern border in the hopes of being released into American communities.

“DHS’s mass release policies have been ‘akin to posting a flashing ‘Come In, We’re Open’ sign on the southern border,'” the filing reads:

In August 2023, Border Patrol released 100,585 aliens under § 1226(a). Florida anticipates that the numbers in September will be even higher, especially given DHS’s decision to set release quotas for Border Patrol to meet. Even if the numbers merely remain the same, DHS is releasing aliens at a rate of over one million per year, and that does not include the aliens being released on parole under § 1182(d)(5). [Emphasis added]

…

The purpose of this Petition to Initiate Rulemaking … is to demand that you fix the problem you created. Specifically, you should promulgate changes to your regulations to close the catch-and-release loophole that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is currently exploiting to implement its mass release policy at the Southwest Border. [Emphasis added]

“Given the massive flood of unvetted migrants into the interior of our country, there is no way to know who is in the U.S. or if they plan to enact terror on Americans,” Moody said in a statement.

“Given the risks illustrated by what happened this weekend in Israel, I am leading a coalition of 27 attorneys general taking action to force the Biden administration to enact responsible rulemaking to ensure our nation’s security at our southern border,” she continued.

A recent report from the House Judiciary Committee revealed the sheer volume of Biden’s catch and release network with little-to-no plans for deporting those arriving at the border.

Since Biden took office, close to three million border crossers and illegal aliens have been directly released into American communities by DHS — a foreign population larger than Chicago, Illinois; Houston, Texas; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; San Diego, California; and Charlotte, North Carolina.

In addition to those millions released into the U.S. interior, close to two million illegal aliens are known to have successfully crossed the border, undeterred by Border Patrol. This is a foreign population the size of Phoenix, Arizona.

Altogether, the House Judiciary report estimates that Biden has welcomed more than four million border crossers and illegal aliens into American communities since the beginning of 2021 — a foreign population that exceeds the annual number of U.S. births.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.