Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has ended a COVID-era program that allowed undocumented immigrants hundreds of minutes of free video calls, Fox News Digital reported, a move that was estimated to save taxpayers more than $10 million a year.
In response to the then-emerging COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting visitation restrictions, federal agencies began offering 520 minutes of free domestic and international phone and video calls per month to undocumented immigrants in their custody in May 2020. The program costs $10.2 million per year.
Although the pandemic public health emergency ended in May 2023, the program will remain in effect after social distancing requirements end and in-person visits resume.
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June 2, 2022: ICE agents conduct enforcement operations in the interior of the United States. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
ICE continued the program until June of this year, but then said other resources were needed at the southern border and cost-cutting measures became a priority.
“Individuals in custody can access the facility’s Wi-Fi to make phone and video calls with their lawyers and family members, and can also make phone calls at their own expense. [using] “Phones and video tablets are available in the facility,” the ICE official said.
The agency also said it may continue to allow free calls in the future if it receives adequate funding from Congress.
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ICE has implemented the policy since May 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Getty Images)
“ICE is grateful for the fiscal year 2024 budget it received from Congress, but current funding is insufficient to maintain multi-pronged operational readiness while providing toll-free calls that cost American taxpayers more than $0.50 per minute,” ICE said.
Funding has become a key topic of discussion among lawmakers and officials over how to address the ongoing crisis at the southern border.
Democrats and the Biden administration have accused Republicans of not supporting measures to provide additional funding for resources to address the border crisis, including a bipartisan bill introduced this year that has so far failed to pass the Senate.
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Republicans point out that the House of Representatives has passed its own comprehensive border bill, which includes additional funding as well as tough limits on asylum and parole, but which lacks Democratic support.
Meanwhile, some COVID-era restrictions remain in place: The Biden administration recently asked a federal judge to lift a ban on admitting new detainees to a facility in Adelanto, California.
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The facility is Adelanto, CaliforniaThe facility can hold about 2,000 inmates, but was blocked from doing so by a court order in September 2020 following a lawsuit by immigration activists seeking to reduce the prison population because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, it has only housed a handful of inmates.
