The U.S. immigration system isn’t broken, laws established by Congress are being ignored, a former immigration judge told members of Congress.
“Despite consistent claims to the contrary, America’s immigration system is not broken. Far from it, in fact,” Matthew O’Brien said at a hearing held by the U.S. Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs on Thursday.
“The problem,” he said, "is that too many administrations have simply ignored whatever aspects of the Immigration and Nationality Act they dislike or find politically inconvenient. And they do so wholly in order to pander to perceived political constituencies, while ignoring the safety, security and economic interests of the wider American public."
O’Brien previously led the National Security Division at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and was assistant chief counsel with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
He said the Biden administration’s “flagrant disregard” for the INA “has currently become the norm” and is “leading us into a public safety and national security crisis from which the United States may find itself unable to recover.”
The INA stipulates that Border Patrol agents apprehend illegal border crossers and process them for removal through expedited removal procedures or detain them pending review by an immigration court or Citizenship and Immigration Services, with exceptions. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, via a memo in 2021, directed agents to a new policy: Illegal entry alone was no longer a deportable offense, even though federal law states it is.
Florida, Texas and Louisiana sued in separate cases, attempting to stop what became known as “catch and release.”
Florida, Texas and Louisiana sued in separate cases, attempting to stop what became known as “catch and release.”
The Supreme Court ruled that states didn’t have legal standing, overruling a lower court that said the states did. A bill was introduced this week to amend the INA granting states legal standing.
Mayorkas also changed parole procedures, including those related to catch and release, which the House Committee on Homeland Security identified as illegal and used as evidence to impeach Mayorkas.
O’Brien said the administration has engaged in “deleterious behavior to an unprecedented extent” because it has “chosen to ignore the INA in its entirety.”
