White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has again defended the Biden Administration after giving smartphones to illegal aliens.
According to reports, the current administration provided smartphones to illegal immigrants in order to track and allow them to communicate w/ ICE.
In a press briefing at the White House, Psaki said that it “is all part of our effort, as individuals come into the United States and individuals who are entering who will proceed to immigration proceedings, to monitor and track where they are.”
Psaki’s comment comes after Fox News’ Peter Doocy, who referenced a report made in part by his colleague Bill Melugin. On Tuesday, Melguin tweeted, “Sources tell me w/ parole releases, the migrants are asked to turn themselves into ICE in a city of their choice.”
He added, “I’m told many of them are given these phones by the government to track them and allow them to communicate w/ ICE, but there’s no way to stop them from being tossed.”
NEW: We are in Brownsville, TX where we are once again witnessing the mass release of single adult migrants from federal custody. This group was dropped off on a bus 2 hours ago and just left a NGO. I’m told several hundred are released here every day, mostly via parole @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/4ZC9MeFoio
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) April 5, 2022
Psaki confirmed the smartphone distribution by saying it is one of three strategies used to monitor migrants and have them check-in for future hearings. This “telephonic” strategy requires the migrant to give a “biometric voiceprint,” Psaki said, so officials can confirm someone’s identity who is calling later.
Doocy then asked Psaki whether or not the Biden administration was concerned that migrants could simply throw away the phones, thus avoiding tracking:
Doocy asked Psaki whether there was concern by anyone in the administration that some migrants may decide to take the phones and “toss them.”
“Do you have a record of people throwing phones away,” she responded.
“I’m just asking if that’s a concern,” Doocy said.
“Our concern is ensuring that individuals who irregularly migrate to the United States proceed through our process of, you know, of course, being monitored, but also participating in hearings to determine whether or not they will be able to stay,” Psaki said.
She added that the administration aims to decrease the number of illegal immigrants detained by the federal government by allowing these individuals to be out in the public under a watchful eye.
The KXAN NBC News also reported last month that instead of decreasing the illegal migrants, the program instead increased the number of illegal aliens into America:
“We saw a pretty significant drop in the latest data we got from U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement down to under 18,000,” Austin Kocher, a TRAC researcher, told KXAN’s Border Report, at the time:
Kocher attributes the drop in detentions to these reasons:
- Fewer migrants are being put into detention at the U.S./Mexico border.
- A drop in interior enforcement arrests of migrants.
- More migrants are being paroled into the United States to await asylum proceedings under the Department of Homeland Security’s Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program
TRAC reports that nearly 190,000 migrants currently are in ATD. This includes migrants who report via telephone to their caseworkers, those with GPS ankle monitoring devices and those who report via the app SmartLINK from their cellphones.
Sources: Daily Wire, KXAN