The federal agency in charge of deportation There are plans to release thousands of undocumented immigrants His house arrest in prison. The decision would be in response to the Senate’s failure to approve a bipartisan immigration plan that would have given the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) $20.3 billion to increase bed capacity at ICE jails, among other issues.
Currently, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has a daily capacity of approximately 32,000 beds in immigration detention centers across the country. But because of the immigration crisis at the southern border, which has worsened over the past three years, thousands of undocumented immigrants have been sent to immigration court so a judge can decide their future in the country.
Because of this dramatic situation, the agency does not have enough resources or space to detain thousands of asylum seekers. Newspaper The Washington Post Tuesday reported that ICE is planning a mass release of foreigners, but lawyers warn that these people are not guaranteed permanent status, but must continue their deportation procedures, but on conditional release.
Failure of the Bilateral Plan
The Senate’s bipartisan immigration plan collapsed after Republicans (and some Democrats) withdrew after more than four months of closed-door negotiations, backed by Joe Biden’s White House.
The project includes $20.3 billion, which will be used to build, among other things, 1,300 new Border Patrol agents, 375 immigration judges, 1,600 asylum officers from the Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), more than 100 new courts. 1,300 new ICE agents, more than 100 state-of-the-art inspection machines to help detect and stop fentanyl at our southwest border, and increase bed capacity in undocumented detention centers.
The collapse of the agreement leaves ICE with sufficient response capacity to deal with emergencies and one of the plans the agency has considered. post, It is to free up foreigners who are being processed to open up spaces and be able to lock up others coming in.
The question becomes: Why release some and lock up others who come for the same reason, receive asylum, and are sent to immigration court?
“Resource Priority”
On April 10, 2005, when Congress passed the REAL ID Act, it included serious changes to asylum laws. Among them, any alien who requests protection from the federal government must remain in detention until their case is resolved in immigration court.
At the time the number of asylum seekers arriving at the border was a few hundred a month, which ICE could handle and enforce the law. But in 2013 the then-government of Barack Obama was alerted to the onset of a crisis involving thousands of immigrants, mainly Central Americans, who were fleeing their countries and seeking asylum in the United States.
The then government responded a year later, in June 2014, when the Border Patrol detained, so far this fiscal year, more than 46,000 unaccompanied minors and a similar number of family units. ICE did not have enough space or beds to detain so many asylum seekers.
The government emergency opened several detention centers located in tents and military bases, a strategy that has been strongly criticized by human rights organizations and immigrant rights defenders inside and outside the United States.
Obama’s strategy
Bowing to criticism and demands for humane treatment of asylum seekers, Obama established deportation priorities, arguing that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had the operational capacity to best manage the use of the resources Congress entrusts to it each year.
The priorities were based on a list that included those aliens who have committed crimes, are inadmissible and/or deportable, and who represent a threat to the national, public, and border security of the United States. The rest can wait to be released on parole through the Alternative Detention Program (ATD), resolving their asylum cases in immigration court.
“That’s why they’re released,” says Jaime Baron, an immigration attorney who practices in Dallas, Texas. “They pose no threat and the government, through ICE, has control over them, monitoring them with electronic devices, handcuffs, bail payments or periodic telephone calls.”
Who can be freed?
Barron explains that the rules of the ATD program “benefit people who have good moral character and are trustworthy enough to use alternative means to report to ICE authorities or the Immigration Court (EOIR) without being detained.”
“They have to comply with a range of legal requirements,” he warns. This includes being subpoenaed to appear before an immigration judge, reporting by telephone at least once a week, wearing an electronic shackle or bracelet, or paying bail.
Regarding good moral character, Barron explained that “the individual must not have a criminal record nor represent a threat to the public, national, or border security of the United States, who is not a danger to society.”
Regarding the demands contained in the Real ID Act of 2005, Barron said “DHS, under whose command ICE operates, has discretion to best manage the resources entrusted to it by Congress.”
“They are not free and it does not mean that they have already won residency. They are still in process and will face deportation proceedings before an immigration judge where they will likely request asylum,” Barron said. “If they lose the trial, they will get a deportation order. And if they don’t appear at the trial, they will get a deportation order in absentia,” he said.
Report of June 2023
In June 2023, Univision Notices reported that the number of undocumented immigrants in the custody of the Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and those released on bail with handcuffs or electronic bracelets decreased by 7 as of the beginning of that month. % compared to April and 40.55% compared to December.
After reviewing data provided by the agency, researchers at Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Information and Access Center (TRAC) found that as of June 3 of last year, ICE was monitoring a total of 224,725 immigrants, up from 242,418 as of May. 6.
The total number of foreigners released under ATD with electronic tracking devices in December 2022 was 377,980.
“ICE is committed to the privacy of participants and transparency in the conduct of immigration enforcement actions,” Cory A. Price, Deputy Executive Director of the Office of Enforcement and Removal, said. “This ATD Privacy Impact Assessment provides a publicly available record of measures to mitigate risks to ATD privacy,” he said.
