GAO Agrees to Lawmaker Demands for New Illegal Immigrant Crime Data: Source

Illegal immigrants pass through a gap in the United States border wall to await processing by Border Patrol agents in Jacumba, Calif., on Dec. 7, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

New data on the number of crimes being committed inside the country by illegal immigrants amid an escalation of violence, drug overdose deaths, and robberies in cities across the United States is set to be released after pressure from Republican lawmakers.

Last month, House Republicans led by Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), claiming that new data was necessary for the American people to understand the widespread consequences of the border crisis.

“The crisis on our southern border is reverberating into cities and towns across the United States,” Mr. Sessions said in a statement. “Violent crime, drug trafficking, and human trafficking are now a daily reality in communities where such illicit activity was once rare. While we cannot directly attribute rising crime to illegal immigration, Congress needs data to fully understand the effect President Biden’s open border has in enabling illicit activity.”

A lack of clear information has made understanding the scope of the problem difficult, if not impossible. The last report on data for crimes committed nationwide by illegal immigrants came more than five years ago, on Aug. 16, 2018, with the release of the GAO’s study, titled “Criminal Alien Statistics: Information on Incarcerations, Arrests, Convictions, Costs, and Removals.”

In the report, the agency found that in 2016, the percentage of illegal immigrants composed 22 percent of the entire federal inmate population, with an additional 169,300 “non-citizens” being held by state and local authorities.

Further, 91 percent of these criminal illegal aliens were citizens of one of six countries, including Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Guatemala, the report added.

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The letter, which Mr. Sessions signed along with 22 other House Republicans, asserted that those numbers are severely outdated due to the recent surge in illegal immigrants.

“Over the past three years, an estimated 1.7 million migrants evaded U.S. border control and have entered the U.S undetected,” House Republicans wrote in a letter to Comptroller General Gene L. Dodar. “The possible correlation between uncontrolled immigration and rising crime in major cities across the U.S is a major concern for Congress, local law enforcement, and everyday Americans.”

The GAO has accepted the request, and new updated numbers will be made available to the public, a source from Mr. Sessions’s office has confirmed to The Epoch Times. However, no timeline has been offered as to when the report will be issued.

States across the nation have seen a recent surge in illegal immigrants—and crime.

While a public breakdown of crimes revealing what percentage of offenses have been committed by illegal immigrants isn’t available, the perception exists among many—including political leaders—that a strong correlation exists between the number of people breaking the law to enter the country and the rise in crime that has followed.

In October, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported the highest number of illegal immigrant encounters for any October on record, with 240,988 encounters at the southern border.

The agency also reported that 13 of the arrests it made during the month were of people on the FBI terror watchlist (12 from the southern border and one from the northern border). The fiscal year total for 2023 is expected to exceed 2.4 million apprehensions at the southern border, surpassing 2022’s record of 2.3 million, once the figures are finalized.

‘Political Agenda’

Arizona Sheriff Mark Lamb told The Epoch Times that he had seen the stark rise in crime attributed to illegal immigrants firsthand.

“The rise in criminal activity is undeniable,” said Mr. Lamb. “Just in traffic stops with human smuggling, we have seen a 377 percent increase over the last three years.”

“These open borders are putting the lives of law enforcement and the American people at risk, and the truth is most people have no idea just how big of a problem this is,” he added.

Mr. Lamb, who in April became the first Republican to announce his candidacy to challenge Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) for the Senate, says that congresspeople hoping to get reliable data ahead of the election shouldn’t hold their breath.

“There is no way the federal government is going to give honest data that tells the whole story before the election,” said Mr. Lamb. “The system isn’t designed to give honest information. It is designed to meet a political agenda.