Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities have released 168,000 illegal alien “family members” into the U.S. since Dec. 21, 2018, according to Acting Director Matthew Albence.

“We’ve released four times as many people as we’re able to arrest on an annual basis,” he told reporters Tuesday, adding that ICE usually makes 40,000 “at large” arrests of illegal aliens annually.

Speaking on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” late last month, Albence had warned that these released illegal alien “family members” are “coming to every community in this country.”

Listen:

Nathalie R. Asher, the acting chief of ICE’s deportation branch, reportedly cited the 168,000 number while testifying Wednesday to Congress and warned that 87 percent of the illegal alien “family members” who have been released into the states have not returned for their court hearings.

“Family units are not appearing in great numbers,” she said.

“Nearly 110,000 were nabbed at the southwestern border in April, including nearly 100,000 caught by the Border Patrol trying to sneak into the U.S. The other 10,000 were encountered when they showed up at ports of entry demanding to be let in, despite lacking permission,” The Washington Times reported.

“Still more troubling is the number of illegal immigrants traveling as families, which neared 62,000 in April alone. That shattered the all-time monthly record and represented a doubling of the number from just three months earlier.”

The outlet noted that the surge is expected to grow and is “being fueled”  by the same policy that spawned the children separation scam: “a court ruling in 2015 that illegal immigrant parents who travel with children must be released within 20 days. That is too little time to complete a court case, meaning the government has no choice but to set the families free on the vain hope that they return for deportation hearings.”

The bipartisan omnibus spending bill that the president signed in February may also be playing a role. Despite being touted by the GOP establishment as a worthy compromise, given as the bill provided $1.375 billion in funding for the construction of a border wall, it contained a catastrophic provision.

Section 224(a) of the bill specifically said that none of the money allocated to the Department of Homeland Security could be used to detain or deport “a sponsor, potential sponsor, or member of a household of a sponsor or potential sponsor of an unaccompanied alien child.”

In other words, any migrant who crosses the border illegally with a child in tow can’t be touched by DHS and its sub-agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Tucked strategically under a clause for coast guard…section 224(a) will prevent .@ICEgov from detaining or removing any sponsor, potential sponsor or a member of a household who has accompanied an alien child. pic.twitter.com/DkPOelt7rZ

— P (@LucetVeritas) February 14, 2019

“They have received the message loud and clear: Bring a child, you will be released,” U.S. Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost likewise testified Wednesday. “From interviews that we have done with the families we are apprehending, they are hearing that message loud and clear. They are hearing that from the smugglers, they are hearing that from the media down in the Northern Triangle.”

Democrats reportedly refuse to accept any of the facts. Responding to Provost’s argument, Sen. Dick Durbin argued that the American people are to blame for illegals flooding the border.

“Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, said the problem is not U.S. legal protections for illegal immigrants but rather U.S. drug consumption, sales of weapons and the cash that flows into the Central American countries, fueling violence there,” the Times reported.

“He blamed President Trump for fueling the chaos, saying his upheaval at Homeland Security has left the department spinning, with four heads of the department so far. He also said Mr. Trump’s threats to shut down the border are spurring more people to make the trip now.”

The facts reportedly do not align with his claims, not that he seemed to care.

Durbin even downplayed the proven epidemic of illegal aliens pretending to be families so as to gain entry into the United States. Just last week the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that more than 1,000 fake family units have been caught at the border this fiscal year alone.

“The fraud, the exploitation, is rampant, and it’s not stopping,” Ascher tried to argue, adding that the 1,000 fake family units apprehended by DHS were just those that had been caught.

“In just a couple of weeks, we’ve interviewed 256 family units and identified 65 fraudulent families. Almost 3 out of every 10 families we’ve interviewed have become fraudulent.” – Acting ICE Director Matt Albence. READ MORE via @BreitbartNews https://t.co/gxh0FW6N7n

— ICE (@ICEgov) May 8, 2019

Durbin reportedly dismissed her reports. He and his Democrat peers likewise showed no interest in complying with the request by officials Wednesday that Congress change the law to nullify the 2015 court ruling responsible for the current fiasco at the border.

Instead, he and his Democrat peers offered their own plan that would “siphon money to Central America for nation-building, allow for migrants to apply for asylum from outside the U.S., crack down on smuggling cartels and surge immigration judges to try to hear cases faster.”

Acting ICE Dir. Matthew Albence says 3 out of every 10 families at the border made false family claims. Out of 256 families interviewed 65 were not family.

They’re trafficking kids to gain entry or worse. Congress can fix this! Tell @SpeakerPelosi to stop child trafficking!

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) May 8, 2019

Albence also testified on Wednesday.

He reportedly said that “statistics show kids are more likely to be sexually or physically abused during the trip to/across the border than they are to not experience abuse during it,” according to award-winning journalist Robby Soave.

Acting @ICEgov Dir. Matthew Albence says today that statistics show kids are more likely to be sexually or physically abused during the trip to/across the border than they are to not experience abuse during it.

This is the heartbreaking reality of illegal immigration.

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) May 8, 2019