Ron Johnson Letter To Mayorkas
Ron Johnson Letter To Mayorkas
According to a June 12, 2024 report, DHS OIG found that both CBP and Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) lack “an effective process for detaining and removing
inadmissible travelers” at an undisclosed U.S. international airport. 4 Inadmissible travelers are
aliens who are denied entry into the U.S. by CBP for reasons including, but not limited to,
inadequate travel documentation and attempted illegal entry. 5 Although airlines are responsible
for covering the costs of holding and removing inadmissible travelers to their originating
1
Southwest Land Border Encounters, U.S. Customs & Border Protect.,
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters (7.8 million encounters in 2021-2024 April
YTD; respective year totals: 2,035,585; 2,579,026; 2,541,967; 735,187); John Davis, Border Crisis: CBP’s
Response, U.S. Customs & Border Protect., June 30, 2023, https://www.cbp.gov/frontline/border-crisis-cbp-s-
response.
2
U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, CBP and ICE Did Not Have an Effective Process
for Detaining and Removing Inadmissible Travelers at an International Airport 3, OIC-24-30, June 12, 2024,
https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2024-06/OIG-24-30-Jun24-Redacted.pdf. At 1.
3
Id. at 3.
4
U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, CBP and ICE Did Not Have an Effective Process
for Detaining and Removing Inadmissible Travelers at an International Airport 3, OIC-24-30, June 12, 2024,
https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2024-06/OIG-24-30-Jun24-Redacted.pdf.
5
Understanding the Issue of Inadmissible Passengers (INADs) and Their Impact on Travel, IATA,
https://www.iata.org/en/publications/newsletters/iata-knowledge-hub/understanding-inads-inadmissible-passengers-
and-their-impact-on-travel/.
The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas
July 8, 2024
Page 2
location, CBP and ICE retain legal authority to detain these individuals awaiting their removal
flights. 6 When CBP identifies an inadmissible traveler and that alien cannot make a same day
removal flight, CBP must contact ICE authorities to request overnight detention. 7 When ICE
denies a detention request, CBP can pay “officers overtime to detain the inadmissible traveler”
overnight at the airport, transfer the individual to another airport, or release the alien onto U.S.
soil while awaiting their removal flight. 8
Between 2021 and 2023, CBP reportedly “released at least 383 inadmissible travelers”
into the U.S. from this undisclosed U.S. international airport with verbal instructions to return to
the airport for their removal flights. 9 At least 168 of the 383 inadmissible travelers released
failed to return for their removal flights. 10 The report also found that CBP failed to follow
required procedures for 77 of the at least 168 inadmissible travelers who failed to show up for
their removal flight. 11 According to the OIG report, if an inadmissible traveler does not return
for their removal flight, “CBP issues a notice to appear in immigration court (NTA).” 12
However, for the 77 inadmissible travelers identified by OIG as having failed to return for their
removal flights, CBP did not issue the required NTA. 13 CBP reportedly failed to issue these
NTAs because it lacked an “effective process to track which inadmissible travelers failed to
return for their removal flights,” and because it failed to staff enough agents “responsible for
issuing NTAs.” 14
CBP was not the only DHS component the OIG report identified as contributing to this
glaring security lapse. The OIG report found that ICE leadership reportedly instructed officers
on multiple occasions to “deny CBP overnight detention requests before removal flights because
of staffing and bed space limitations.”15 ICE leadership reportedly based this instruction on the
additional “time-consuming” paperwork and medical screening that is required to detain
inadmissible travelers overnight. 16 Further, although the local jail that houses ICE’s detention
center for this airport is equipped with 540 beds, the report found that ICE only has access to
about 80 of those beds. 17 When bed space requests were denied, CBP “could not consistently
detain inadmissible travelers overnight at the airport” because they did not “have an overnight
shift or sufficient overtime hours” to ensure regular overnight detention. 18 Transfer to another
6
See Id.
7
U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, CBP and ICE Did Not Have an Effective Process
for Detaining and Removing Inadmissible Travelers at an International Airport 2, OIC-24-30, June 12, 2024,
https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2024-06/OIG-24-30-Jun24-Redacted.pdf.
8
Id.
9
Id. at 3.
10
Id.
11
Id. at 2.
12
Id.
13
Id. at 3.
14
Id.
15
Id. at 3.
16
Id.
17
Id. at 4.
18
Id.
The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas
July 8, 2024
Page 3
international airport was found to be unreliable, as it required coordinating with the airlines and
agents at the receiving CBP field office. 19
The DHS OIG report provides a troubling analysis of one aspect of the Biden
administration’s failure to protect and secure our border. In order to better understand the threat
posed by this administration’s inability to detain and remove inadmissible travelers, please
provide the following information by July 22, 2024: 20
1. All records 21 referring or relating to the 77 inadmissible travelers identified in the June
12, 2024 OIG report, including, but not limited to:
a. The current status of these individuals;
b. What efforts DHS has taken to locate and remove the 77 individuals; and
c. Any alien file associated with each of the 77 individuals.
2. The number of inadmissible travelers per airport per year since FY 2021, including:
a. The total number of inadmissible travelers identified;
b. The total number of inadmissible travelers who were released while waiting for a
removal flight;
c. The total number of inadmissible travelers who did not return for their removal
flights;
d. The total number of inadmissible travelers who were not issued an NTA; and
e. The total number of inadmissible travelers who claimed.
3. The number of CBP officers assigned to each U.S. airport for each year since FY 2021
including:
a. The total number of CBP officers assigned to each U.S. airport;
b. The total dollar amount spent on overtime by CBP at each U.S. airport for each
year since FY 2021; and
c. The number of CBP officer vacancies at each U.S. airport.
4. All records referring or relating to CBP coordination with airlines to transfer inadmissible
travelers to secondary airports and to book inadmissible travelers on return flights.
5. All records referring or relating to CBP’s use of NTAs for inadmissible travelers who fail
to show up for a return flight, including but not limited to, all communications regarding
inadmissible travelers who failed to show up for a return flight that were not issued
NTAs.
19
Id.
20
Unless otherwise stated, the period of time covered by this request shall be January 1, 2021 to present.
21
“Records” include any written, recorded, or graphic material of any kind, including letters, memoranda, reports,
notes, electronic data (emails, email attachments, and any other electronically-created or stored information),
calendar entries, inter-office communications, meeting minutes, phone/voice mail or recordings/records of verbal
communications, and drafts (whether or not they resulted in final documents).
The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas
July 8, 2024
Page 4
6. The numbers of ICE agents that are able to process inadmissible travelers per airport
since FY 2021, including the number of vacant positions.
7. All records referring or relating to the lack of available beds to house inadmissible
travelers, including but not limited, all records referring or relating to the decision by ICE
leadership to deny CBP request for overnight detention of inadmissible travelers.
Sincerely,
Ron Johnson
Ranking Member
Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations