(NewsNation) — President Joe Biden’s administration has reportedly allowed more than 1 million undocumented immigrants to remain in the country while they await immigration hearings, according to an analysis of “internal Homeland Security data” and “court filings” by the New York Times.
Many of those migrants, including hundreds of thousands seeking asylum, will have to wait an average of seven years for a final ruling due to a clogged immigration system, which currently faces a backlog of more than 1.6 million cases, the Times found.
But there’s a chance you haven’t heard about this story. That’s because 86% of news outlets that reported on this story lean right, according to NewsNation’s partner Ground News, which monitors coverage based on media bias. Only one left-leaning media outlet, the New York Times — which broke the story — has reported on it, according to Ground News’ Blindspot report.
Of the more than 1 million migrants that have been allowed into the country, nearly 300,000 have been outfitted with tracking devices so that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can monitor their whereabouts, the Times reported.
Those numbers are comparable to a two-year period under former President Donald Trump’s administration when more than 1 million migrants were temporarily allowed to remain in the country, according to a Migration Policy Institute analysis, to which the Times referred.
However, this week’s report does not include the millions of people who have been apprehended at the border — numbers that have risen to historic levels under Biden — or those who have entered the country without being detected.
Since Biden took office, migrants have illegally crossed the southern border more than 3.4 million times, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). That’s the highest number over an 18-month period in decades.
Under Title 42 — a pandemic-driven public health rule that allowed border agents to deny migrants the opportunity to seek asylum — more than 1.7 million migrants have been turned away since Biden took office.
The administration attempted to roll back the policy earlier this year but a federal judge blocked it from doing so.
In the meantime, American border towns have been overwhelmed by the influx of new migrants. So much so that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey are offering migrants free bus rides to sanctuary cities around the country.
This story is part of NewsNation’s new “Blindspot” initiative in partnership with Ground News to provide readers with contextual, unbiased news they may not find covered by every media outlet.