Washington D.C. – On Friday, December 8, 2023, Congressman Pete Sessions led 22 fellow House Republicans in sending a letter to Gene Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States and head of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), requesting an updated version of a 2018 report on criminal alien statistics. This request comes amid escalating illegal immigration, rising violent crime, and drug overdose deaths across the United States since January 2021.

Five years prior, the GAO released a report titled "Criminal Alien Statistics: Information on Incarcerations, Arrests, Convictions, Costs, and Removals." This comprehensive report detailed the number and nationalities of noncitizens in United States penitentiaries, including extensive data on arrests, convictions, types of offenses, and the estimated taxpayer costs of incarcerating each noncitizen. Additionally, it provided information on the removal process for noncitizens from the United States following their federal prison terms.

The updated report, as requested by Congressman Sessions and his colleagues, aims to equip Congress and the public with crucial information regarding the current state of illegal immigration, its financial impact on taxpayers, and strategies for reducing the number of noncitizens in U.S.-based penitentiaries.

“The crisis on our southern border is reverberating into cities and towns across the United States,” said Congressman Sessions. “Violent crime, drug trafficking, and human trafficking are now a daily reality in communities where such illicit activity was once rare. While we cannot directly attribute rising crime to illegal immigration, Congress needs data to fully understand the effect President Biden’s open border has in enabling illicit activity. This update to the 2018 Government Accountability Office report will provide this necessary information.”

“Pete Sessions’ leadership, on this GAO study, regarding illegal migration, rising crime rates and incarceration is an important part of fixing our broken border using statistics and facts,” said Jonathan Thompson, CEO of the National Sheriffs Association. “We need to see the real costs associated with the Administrations open border policies.” 

Congressman Sessions was joined by Congresspersons Granger (TX-12), McCaul (TX-10), Rogers (AL-03), Biggs (AZ-05), Roy (TX-21), Crenshaw (TX-02), Ellzey (TX-06), Self (TX-03), Fallon (TX-04), Nehls (TX-22), Lamborn (CO-05), Higgins (LA-03), Tiffany (WI-07), Weber (TX-14), De La Cruz (TX-15), Gooden (TX-05), Ogles (TN-05), Brecheen (OK-02), Williams (TX-25), Cloud (TX-27), Rouzer (NC-07), and Moran (TX-01).

Read the full letter to Gene Dodaro, U.S. Comptroller General, here.