WASHINGTON—A report from the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) has found that, since the start of the Biden Administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been refraining to provide names and other biographical details about immigration violators in its press releases, raising more questions about lack of transparency in the executive branch.
IRLI team members noticed this trend while conducting research and decided to compare press releases issued during the final year of the Trump Administration with those issued during a one-year period during the Biden Administration. Shockingly, Joe Biden’s ICE “named only 67 percent of the subjects of its press releases,” while Donald Trump’s ICE identified 97 percent.
Moreover, the Trump Administration declined to name suspect aliens only when it appeared to be unable to confirm the identity of the subject prior to publication. The Biden Administration appears to be doing its best to conceal the identities of all the aliens ICE arrests.
These findings have dire implications. As the study notes, “Without the name of the individuals referenced in ICE press releases it is virtually impossible for the public, watchdog groups and the media to determine what action, if any, ICE has taken to remove a violator from the United States.” Accordingly, IRLI wonders what, exactly, the Biden administration is trying to hide.
”The Biden White House promised the most transparent administration in history, but this is further evidence it may be the most secretive,” said Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of IRLI. “Biden’s immigration policies have caused enormous damage to the country. Now this White House wants to keep the American people uninformed about the details of the problem. We need more sunlight on government, but what we are getting now is shadows and darkness.”
“It’s fairly obvious that Team Biden is attempting to hide the fact that it is keeping immigration violators and criminal aliens in the United States – in direct violation of U.S. immigration law – where they continue to present a danger to the American public,” said Matt O’Brien, IRLI’s Director of Investigations. He further noted, “It’s equally evident that this being done to advance the Biden Administration’s globalist, anti-borders agenda.”
