As Joe Biden asks Congress to formally grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, his administration has already created a sort of hidden amnesty that could accomplish his extremist immigration agenda without congressional approval.

Last year, the Biden administration resettled more than 146,000 unaccompanied alien children (UACs) into the U.S., a number larger than the population of many U.S. cities.  These numbers are alarmingly high, especially considering the lax vetting standards we've seen under Biden.

According to data from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Biden administration has lost track of nearly 20,000 of these illegal aliens. Losing track of 20,000 illegal border crossers demonstrates a shocking amount of negligence, even by the low standards of this administration. It also shows that the Biden administration is committed to the cause of amnesty, even if that means quietly resettling illegal aliens without the permission of Congress.

Less than a month after taking office, Biden proposed a massive amnesty bill.  The legislation would likely award amnesty to tens of millions of illegal aliens, but the bill has not received a vote yet in the current Congress.  As vice president in 2013, Biden helped push a similar amnesty bill through the Senate, which died in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.  During his State of the Union speech earlier this month, Biden again pushed for "immigration reform," a Washington, D.C. code word for amnesty, while offering a few crumbs to those of us who believe in enforcing immigration laws.

It's clear that granting amnesty to the large number of illegal aliens has been a goal of Biden's for a long time, and he is more than willing to go around Congress to do it.  While Biden's proposed legislation appears to have little chance of moving through Congress, the executive actions he has taken may amount to a hidden amnesty.

The Biden administration's hidden amnesty won't just come as a result of the nearly 150,000 illegal UACs that they have resettled over the past year, but also through illegal aliens who have entered the country through Biden's poorly enforced border and have avoided detection from immigration authorities since.  These illegal aliens are known as "got aways," and they have spent the last year feasting on Biden's anti-border policies.

There were roughly 500,000 "got aways" in 2021, according to unofficial data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.  These "got aways" came in addition to the nearly two million migrants who were apprehended at the southern border over the course of the past year.  All told, Biden has released more than 800,000 illegal aliens into the U.S. in the past year.

Adding to obvious concerns over these high numbers is the Biden administration's complete lack of transparency, and the shady way they have been resettling migrants into the country.

Late last year, White House press secretary Jen Psaki admitted that the administration was resettling illegal aliens in New York through secretive early-morning flights under cover of darkness.  Similar reports of secretive night-time flights have emerged in other states, including Florida and Pennsylvania.  Just last month, video obtained by Fox News showed large numbers of illegal aliens being released into the U.S.  Most of the aliens were single males, with some telling reporters that they were headed to various destinations across the U.S., including Miami, Houston, and Atlanta.  While Biden has been unable to get his massive amnesty bill through Congress, he has been able to import large numbers of migrants and dramatically reshape the country through his executive action.

Some governors, including Florida governor Ron DeSantis and Texas governor Greg Abbott, have fought admirably for the safety and security of the people in their states in the face of Biden's border catastrophe.  However, Congress has done virtually nothing to hold Biden accountable, despite the pleas of some House Republicans.  While state and local governments can take steps to combat the border crisis, it is an exceedingly difficult task in the face of a complicit and apathetic federal government.  That's why the next Congress must expose and address Biden's hidden amnesty.

Dale L. Wilcox is executive director and general counsel at the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a public interest law firm working to defend the rights and interests of the American people from the negative effects of mass migration.  

Image: Screen shot from WKRB video, posted on YouTube.