Historically, illegal aliens–officially dubbed “asylum seekers”–who were admitted “temporarily” into America were held in custody while their applications were processed. Beginning in 2004, however, ICE implemented the “Alternatives to Detention” (ATD) policy, which substituted tracking for detaining. Tracking at the time was generally accomplished by attaching an ankle bracelet to the subject’s leg which could be monitored through GPS technology.
Gradually, however, as illegal newcomers have come to be viewed as simply “not-yet-documented” or “irregular,” such practices came under suspicion among the increasingly Woke agency. A new, more modern, more expensive–and much less effective–method of tracking has come into use: a smart phone app known as SmartLINK.
The use of SmartLINK has gradually all but replaced the GPS option. In fiscal year 2019, ICE was tracking 55,918 illegals using GPS monitoring and 5,706 using SmartLINK. By FY 2023, the numbers had exploded, and the vast majority are now being tracked with SmartLINK: 280,089 via the app versus only 5,757 with GPS.
SmartLINK, when installed on a government-supplied smart phone–enables the possessor to check in at various times with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, so that occasionally ICE knows where he is. This is in sharp contrast to the increasingly abandoned GPS bracelet, which kept authorities informed of the subject’s whereabout around the clock.
In actuality, the situation is even worse than causing mere spotty monitoring. The use of SmartLINK, according to critics such as Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies, means that “the Biden administration is trying to move away from any form of serious monitoring under ATD to instead use this program as a way to provide services to illegal migrants to make them more comfortable while they’re here.” Vaughan continues:
This is not an enforcement program at all. It is a social services program for recently arrived illegal migrants. And it’s costly to taxpayers, and it’s undermining the integrity of our immigration system. It’s in effect the next step after giving all these illegal arrivals parole, make it easier for them to get in and make it easier for them to stay. It’s like come for parole, stay for the wraparound services.
SmartLINK is managed by a Boulder, Colorado, company known as BI Incorporated. Currently, the program costs $268,885.44 a day, compared with GPS monitoring, which costs only $15,774.18.
Defenders of SmartLINK claim that illegals equipped with SmartLINK-enabled phones appear at their first immigration hearings at the same rate as those monitored through GPS and even those allowed in without monitoring at all. Critics counter that first court dates are often well attended because that’s typically the time illegals receive work permits. The follow-on appearances, including eventual deportation proceedings, are what matter, and monitoring of any sort seems ineffective. According to the Daily Caller, only 6 percent of those ordered deported actually leave the country.
The problem at its base is not with the monitoring method. It is with the will of the federal authorities to enforce the law, a will that is currently all but non-existent. Whether tracked by GPS or app or not at all, in today’s America, once you’re in, you’re in for good.
For more, see the Daily Caller.