Since President Joe Biden took office in Jan. 2021, there have been more than 4 million illegal border crossings, according to the latest data by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol from fiscal years 2022 and 2021.

Of those, 1.9 million were deemed Title 8 inadmissibles or Title 42 COVID restriction removals. The other 2.1 million were released into the country.

In the meantime, for fiscal years 2021 and 2022, Immigration Customs and Enforcement has booked in 495,000 illegal immigrants, and of those, 25,000 are currently detained, 458,700 were given so-called alternatives to detention and through the process, 124,000 were removed and 389,000 were released.

Of those released, 38,000 were bonded, 224,000 were released with an order of recognizance, 18,000 were released with an order of supervision and 108,000.

Compared to former President Donald Trump’s administration, removals are down dramatically. At 72,000 in FY 2022, removals by ICE were down a whopping 61 percent compared to FY 2020, when 185,000 were removed.

Of the 2.1 million who were allowed to stay, unfortunately, many of them could wind up being indentured slaves and victims of human trafficking who paid the Mexican drug cartels to get into the U.S. Once here, they are obliged to keep paying protection money.

And then there’s the got-aways. In the just the past three months, although 631,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended, another 212,000 were classified unofficially as got-aways. According Breitbart.com’s Bob Price and Randy Clark, “Unofficial numbers obtained from Border Patrol officials indicate a total of 844,000 known border crossers during the first three months of FY23. The number represents the reported apprehension of 631,000 migrants and an additional 212,000 migrants classified as known got-aways.”

Price and Clark added, “Got-aways are an estimate by Border Patrol officials of migrants that are either seen and not apprehended or are counted by other means including technology and tracking. These are migrants who illegally cross the border with no intention of surrendering to law enforcement to claim asylum, officials previously told Breitbart.”

Meaning, for every two illegal immigrants captured, another one gets in scot-free. And those are just the ones they tracked via technology or visually and then lost track. If that ratio held true throughout the Biden administration, that would mean as many as 1.3 million illegal immigrants got away and were never caught.

That would increase the number to 3.4 million in terms of the total increase of the population of illegal immigrants. But as the data on got-aways remains unofficial, until Congress spends money to get official data tabulated by the Customs and Border Patrol, the true number will remain a mystery.

Sadly, many of them are sex slaves. In the year 2000, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) estimated as many as 50,000 women and children are smuggled to the U.S. every year to serve as prostitutes and forced laborers in violation of the 13th Amendment’s prohibition of slavery and indentured servitude.

After more than 20 years, that would mean there are more than 1 million slaves in the U.S. and likely, given the numbers we are seeing presently at the border, there are many, many more than that.

And the Biden administration is just letting it happen and by opening the border, accommodating an abhorrent crime against humanity.

According to a report by the Organization of American States on human trafficking, the conditions of these slaves are atrocious: “The victims, mostly women and children, are often deceived about the true nature of the work. They are exploited in slavery-like conditions. The traffickers grow rich, but the victims are held in debt bondage… Some are abducted and sold, some are deceived into consenting by the promise of a better life or a better job, and some feel that entrusting themselves to traffickers is the only economically viable option. Regardless of the route of entry, most women and children trafficked for sexual exploitation suffer extreme violations of their human rights, including the right to liberty, the right to dignity and security of person, the right not to be held in slavery or involuntary servitude, the right to be free from cruel and inhumane treatment, the right to be free from violence, and the right to health.”

The report continued: “Why can’t they just leave? Some trafficking victims are physically imprisoned by locks, bars or guards. Those with apparent freedom to leave are controlled by other means. Physical, sexual and psychological violence are employed against them effectively.”

Former President Trump effectively dealt with Mexico through a combination of threatening massive tariffs if they would not deploy their military to secure their side of the border. The Migrant Protocols and the Remain in Mexico policy were adopted by both countries, and apprehensions dropped substantially.

Now, with Remain in Mexico just a memory, and 2024 on the horizon, under Biden catch and release has skyrocketed. The question is whether the American people will continue to tolerate such a level of inattention to securing the nation’s borders. It was a key issue for former President Trump’s successful 2016 bid, and with Trump having already announced his candidacy against Biden next year, it will almost certainly be a central issue in the campaign. Stay tuned.

Robert Romano is the vice president of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.