http://nypost.com/2024/07/12/us-news/biden-admin-set-to-launch-app-so-migrants-can-bypass-in-person-ice-check-ins/
By Jennie Taer
The New York Post
July 12, 2024
The Biden administration is preparing to eliminate in-person check-ins for migrants and replace them with an app, The Post has learned — which insiders warn is a “half-baked” plan that will lead more asylum seekers to abscond.
The app — which is set to launch soon in the form of a pilot program in select cities — will let the millions of illegal migrants released into the US to await their asylum proceedings check in with immigration officials on a phone or computer, two sources familiar with the app revealed.
This means the migrants will no longer be required to check in with their local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office every few months while they wait to plead their asylum case in immigration court.
Under President Biden’s leadership, the number of migrants illegally crossing the southern border has exploded, leading to massive lines and backlogs at ICE field offices.
New York City’s ICE office was already “fully booked through October 2032” as of early last year for appointments to process migrants released at the southern border, according to an official document previously reviewed by The Post.
However, concerned critics fear the new app will make it easier for undocumented migrants living in the US to go under the radar.
“The thing has no enforcement around it and will have zero consequences when they don’t check in,” a source fumed.
“Totally half-baked and massively undercuts enforcement.”
If they use a computer to access the website version, ICE also won’t be able to track their location, a source added.
ICE was set to announce the upcoming launch of the app during a press conference Thursday — but had to postpone the announcement due to major glitches that would make it impossible for it to handle millions of users, another source said. The app is also not yet approved by the Apple app store.
When the agency initially rolled out the program in its early pilot stage, it had a “high failure rate,” a source said.
Officials tried to enroll hundreds of migrants onto the platform but were only able to get roughly 45 of them enrolled due to the tech issues.
“It’s such a sh-t show,” the source explained.
Currently, the app can only manage roughly 200,000 migrants out of the millions who have been released and live in the US to await immigration proceedings — many under the Biden administration.
It is not clear how much the app has cost taxpayers to develop.
The new tech will be in addition to SmartLink, an app already used to keep tabs on migrants enrolled in ICE’s “Alternatives to Detention” (ATD) program — which is only a small fraction of the seven million on ICE’s non-detained docket.
Migrants enrolled in ATD — which has been in place since 2004 — are vetted by officers before enrollment, according to ICE. However, not all migrants are processed and enrolled at the border for the program.
As of June 29, ICE only had about 152,000 using the SmartLink app, according to federal data.
The new app will allow the scores of other migrants released into the US after crossing the border illegally to access a portal that houses virtual copies of their immigration documents, including future court dates, sources said.
The Biden administration also hopes to use the app to track the thousands of migrants it plans to hand IDs to at the border as part of its Secure Docket Card pilot program, according to a source.
The ID cards for that program have a QR code that migrants will be able to scan to access their portals.
ICE began piloting the program in Miami and is set to implement it in bigger cities like New York City, where sources estimate that 90,000 migrants are required to report.
Along with the app, the Biden administration last month introduced last-minute asylum restrictions at the border to drive illegal immigration down.
However, in June, roughly 30,000 migrants were released into the US with future court dates, adding to ICE’s overburdened caseload.
ICE didn’t respond to The Post’s request for comment.
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence
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