If you’ve ever felt like the numbers coming from Washington don’t quite add up, you’re not alone. The former Biden administration is now facing serious questions about the way it reported immigration enforcement data.
According to acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, there’s a major discrepancy in how the Biden administration has presented its immigration arrest numbers.
The issue? The administration appears to have been counting people who were merely processed and released as actual arrests.
That’s like a police department claiming crime is under control by counting every traffic stop as an arrest.
This revelation has sparked a debate over transparency in immigration enforcement.
WOW! A review of DHS & ICE data revealed the Biden admin. was “cooking the books” on illegal migrant arrests.
“They tens of thousands of cases that were labeled as arrests but they were actually illegal aliens who were possessed & released into communities.” pic.twitter.com/YaxddfgKF2
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 12, 2025
Critics say the Biden administration was inflating its arrest numbers to make it look like it was taking border security seriously.
In reality, many of these so-called “arrests” weren’t leading to deportations or long-term detentions.
Instead, illegal immigrants were often released back into the country, sometimes with little more than a promise to show up for a future court date.
Meanwhile, ICE facilities were bursting at the seams.
As of now, a senior official at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reports around 47,600 detainees are being held in these facilities, pushing them to full capacity.
That raises another concern—if ICE is truly arresting as many people as the administration claims, where are they putting them?
For years, conservatives have warned that lax immigration policies would lead to chaos at the border.
And that’s exactly what was happening.
Millions of illegal crossings were recorded, overwhelming border agents, local law enforcement, and social services.
Now, ICE can’t even hold more detainees because there’s simply no more space.
When Biden first took office, he reversed many of Trump’s border security policies, including the “Remain in Mexico” policy and construction of the border wall.
Illegal crossings skyrocketed.
Americans deserve honest answers about what was happening at our border.
Instead of redefining what an “arrest” means, our representatives need to focus on real enforcement—securing the border, stopping illegal crossings, and deporting those who break our immigration laws.
This article was written with the assistance of AI. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
