From the Daily Caller News Foundation 

By Jason Hopkins

Nearly 1 million illegal migrants in the United States have benefited from “quiet amnesty” by the Biden-Harris immigration court system, according to a report released Thursday.

Over 700,000 illegal migrants have had their cases administratively closed, terminated or dismissed, allowing them to remain in the country “indefinitely” without being subject to immigration consequences, according to a report released by the House Judiciary Committee, led by Ohio GOP Rep. Jim Jordan. The findings, which the committee dubbed as “quiet amnesty,” come amid record levels of illegal immigration into the country under the current administration.

“Through administrative maneuvering at both the Justice Department and [the Department of Homeland Security], the Biden-Harris Administration has already ensured that nearly 1 million illegal aliens can remain in the United States without the possibility of deportation—and that trend shows no sign of stopping,” the report went on.

When a non-citizen enters the U.S. unlawfully, they can be placed into removal proceedings and eventually go before one of the roughly 700 immigration judges across the country.

Due to the unprecedented border crisis and wave of foreign nationals applying for asylum, the immigration court system has faced a massive backlog, the report detailed. The backlog grew from 1.2 million cases at the end of the Trump administration to nearly 3.5 million cases by the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2024 — marking a 175% increase.

The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) additionally reported nearly 109,100 cases as “not adjudicated” in fiscal year 2023, meaning that the cases were completed but not adjudicated on the merits of the claims, according to the House report. There were 109,568 asylum cases not adjudicated in just the first nine months of fiscal year 2024, already surpassing the total previous fiscal year.

For comparison, there were just 12,960 total asylum cases reported as “not adjudicated” from fiscal years 2017 to 2020 — combined, according to the House report.

The Biden-Harris administration additionally failed to file the required documentation to begin immigration court removal proceedings for around 200,00 cases, resulting in the “overwhelming majority” of those non-citizens being able to remain in the country indefinitely, the report found.

“Instead of actually adjudicating illegal aliens’ cases based on the merits of aliens’ claims for relief — such as whether an alien has a valid and successful asylum claim — immigration judges under the Biden-Harris Administration have been tasked with rubberstamping case dismissals, case closures, and case terminations, all of which allow illegal aliens to remain in the United States without immigration consequences,” the report stated.

The Department of Justice, which oversees EOIR, declined to comment for this story.

From the Daily Caller News Foundation 

By Nick Pope

Forty-five GOP lawmakers are demanding answers from the Department of Energy (DOE) after a government watchdog group accused the agency of covering up a key study that would have interfered with one of the Biden-Harris administration’s most aggressive crackdowns on fossil fuels.

The lawmakers wrote to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Thursday to address a watchdog’s allegations that her agency conducted or drafted — and then quietly buried — a study on the emissions impacts of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports in 2023 before pausing approvals for certain LNG export terminals in January on the grounds that the agency needed to conduct such a review. Government Accountability and Oversight (GAO), the watchdog making the allegations, is suing the agency under public records law to obtain the thousands of pages DOE concedes may fit GAO’s specific request searching for the 2023 study that the agency allegedly buried because it was producing politically inconvenient conclusions, as first reported by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“The Biden-Harris Administration’s attempt to conceal its findings on liquefied natural gas impacts is troubling. Despite evidence that U.S. LNG benefits both the economy and global energy security, the Department of Energy has imposed an indefinite ban on LNG exports to non-free trade agreement countries without legal justification,” Republican Texas Rep. August Pfluger, one of the letter’s signatories, said in a statement shared with the DCNF. “The lack of transparency from DOE on existing studies, as well as the motivation behind the ongoing study, is unacceptable. The American people deserve accountability on the decision-making process surrounding our energy future.”

DOE Letter re: LNG studies, GAO accusations by Nick Pope on Scribd

If GAO’s allegations are ultimately substantiated, the Biden-Harris administration effectively misled the public in an election year to set up a policy that hurts American geopolitical interests and disincentivizes investment in major energy projects. However, the deep-pocketed environmentalist lobby aligning with Democrats in the 2024 election cycle celebrated the policy.

The lawmakers’ letter specifically asks Granholm to clarify whether the agency conducted any analysis of LNG exports’ emissions impacts before the Jan. 26 announcement of the freeze on approvals for LNG export terminals seeking to ship gas to non-free trade agreement (FTA) countries. The legislators also asked Granholm to detail whether top DOE officials or White House personnel ever received updates about such an analysis, even if preliminary, in the first ten months of 2023, as well as whether the agency still intends to publish its findings in January 2025.

“DOE is in receipt of this letter and is reviewing it,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement shared with the DCNF. “DOE’s process to update the analyses that informs its review of applications to authorize exports of US natural gas to non-free trade agreement countries is well underway. When the updated analyses are ready, we will publish them for the public to review and provide comment.”

The lawmakers gave Granholm until Nov. 8 to respond to their inquiry. Republican Reps. Darrell Issa of California, Dan Crenshaw of Texas, Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Lance Gooden of Texas and Buddy Carter of Georgia joined Pfluger as signatories, among others.

Notably, the House Oversight and Accountability Committee sent its own letter to Granholm on Wednesday demanding answers about the same exact issue.