The Biden administration is preparing to eliminate in-person check-ins for migrants and replace them with an app, according to a Washington Post report, with officials warning the plan is “half-baked” and will lead to even more asylum seekers fleeing.
The app is due to launch soon as a test program in select cities, allowing millions of illegal immigrants released into the United States to await asylum proceedings to check in with immigration authorities on their phones or computers, according to two sources familiar with the app.
This means that immigrants will no longer have to check into their local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office every few months while they wait for their asylum applications to be heard in immigration court.
Under President Biden’s leadership, the number of migrants crossing the southern border illegally has exploded, causing long lines and backlogs at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field offices.
As of early last year, the New York City ICE office was already “full through October 2032” with reservations to process migrants released at the southern border, according to official documents previously reviewed by The Washington Post.
But concerned critics fear the new app could make it easier for undocumented immigrants living in the US to evade surveillance.
“There is no enforcement on this and no penalty for not checking in,” the source fumed.
“It’s completely half-baked and will greatly weaken enforcement.”
Accessing the website version from a computer will prevent ICE from tracking your location, sources said.
ICE had planned to announce the release of the app at a press conference on Thursday but was forced to postpone the announcement because of major glitches that prevented it from serving millions of users, another source said. The app has not yet been approved by Apple’s App Store.
When officials first rolled out the program as an early test phase, “there was a high failure rate,” the official said.
Authorities tried to register hundreds of migrants on the platform, but technical issues meant only about 45 were able to register.
“It’s a really awful show,” the source explained.
Currently, the app can only manage about 200,000 of the millions of migrants who have been released and are awaiting immigration proceedings in the U.S., many of them under the Biden administration.
It’s not clear how much the app cost taxpayers to develop.
The new technology will be added to SmartLink, an app already used to monitor immigrants enrolled in ICE’s Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program, which accounts for only a small fraction of the 7 million people on ICE’s non-detainer lists.
Immigrants registered with the ATD, which has been in place since 2004, are screened by officials before being registered. According to ICEBut not all migrants are processed at the border and enrolled in the program.
As of June 29, only about 152,000 people were using ICE’s SmartLink app, according to federal data.
Sources said the new app will allow many other migrants who crossed the border illegally and have been released into the U.S. to access a portal that stores virtual copies of their immigration documents, including future court dates.
The Biden administration also wants to use the app to track thousands of migrants who are set to hand over their identification documents at the border as part of a Secure Docket Card pilot program, according to the sources.
The program’s ID cards have a QR code that immigrants can scan to access the portal.
ICE is piloting the program in Miami and plans to roll it out in other major cities, including New York City, where an estimated 90,000 immigrants are required to report.
The Biden administration introduced last month, in tandem with the app’s launch, last-minute asylum restrictions at the border to reduce illegal immigration.
But in June, about 30,000 migrants with scheduled court dates were released into the U.S., adding further strain to ICE’s overburdened caseload.
ICE did not respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment.
