Governors want feds to share location data, asylum information on migrants with states

Sep. 20—WASHINGTON — More than two dozen state leaders want a tighter grip on the southern border, and they want to take immigration matters into their own hands.

Twenty-five governors, including South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, signed a letter to President Biden urging his administration to send states information on where migrants admitted at the southern border are being relocated in the United States, and comprehensive data on asylum claim time lines, qualification rates and successful deportations.

"The crisis at the southern border extends to every state," the letter reads. "As a result of your policies which incentivize illegal immigration, our states are carrying the burden of both the years-long surge in illegal border crossings and cartels' coordinated trafficking of drugs and human beings."

The Biden administration's border policies, especially those implemented after the memorandum established during the COVID-19 pandemic, have been widely described "catch and release," where Border Patrol officers, after detaining undocumented migrants between ports of entry, input a U.S. address to send a future notice to appear in immigration court or to report to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.

The inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security, Joseph V. Cuffari,

wrote in a report this month that the department has not been able to track migrants' post-release addresses

, that 80% of the 981,671 recorded addresses were used at least twice, and 18% of addresses were either missing, invalid or not legitimate residential locations. Cuffari suggested in his report that DHS implement new policies for validating migrant addresses and coordinating address data with Border Patrol, but DHS ultimately did not accept those recommendations.

In 2021, Noem sent National Guard troops to the border, in an act to help secure the southern border which she and other members of the South Dakota congressional delegation have declared a warzone.

"Every state is now a border state," Noem said in a press release. "[The Biden] Administration can no longer ignore simple facts that threaten our citizens' public safety and strain their public resources."

Now, Noem and Burgum, as well as other notable governors of southern and non-southern states alike, including Greg Abbott of Texas, Mark Gordon of Wyoming and Mike Dunleavy of Alaska, and more than a dozen others, all signed the letter seeking information on migrants.