By GB News (Politics) | Created at 2024-11-22 12:12:42 | Updated at 2024-11-22 18:15:06
6 hours ago
Joe Biden plans to replace mandatory in-person check-ins with a mobile app for tens of thousands of illegal migrants in New York City this December.
Up to 100,000 migrants in the city will be enrolled in the new ICE Portal app system, according to Homeland Security sources.
The shift comes as asylum seekers currently awaiting court hearings must periodically check in at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field offices.
Technical issues have already emerged with the new ICE Portal app, which reportedly fails to function on Android phones.
The app also does not collect GPS location data when migrants use laptops to check in, according to Homeland Security sources.
Immigration lawyer Ed Cuccia, who experienced the app during its pilot phase, described it as "a little glitchy".
Joe Biden plans to replace mandatory in-person check-ins with a mobile app for tens of thousands of illegal migrants
REUTERS
"I had people that it didn't work properly for, they had to keep pushing the buttons," he told The Telegraph.
The new app system marks a significant reduction in security features compared to current in-person checks.
Under the existing system, migrants must provide proof of their current address during appointments, whilst the database flags arrest warrants to ICE officers.
A Homeland Security source emphasised the importance of this data, telling the New York Post: "We need that information that if these people don't go to court, they have absconded, they have a final order of removal. We need that data to go start looking for people."
Despite concerns about the app's functionality, Cuccia, of Cuccia Law Firm, suggested the system change may have limited impact, describing current in-person checks as "a bit of a joke."
"There's not much difference between this app thing and in-person reporting. You just say hi, hello," he told The Telegraph.
He highlighted the system's extensive delays, noting: "The system is so massively backlogged, I've got people checking in then getting court dates for 2032, and that's not even a court date... It's a date to come in to get your court date."
New York City has received more than 223,000 migrants since spring 2022, with thousands still residing in shelters.
Mayor Eric Adams has been vocal in his criticism of the Biden administration's handling of the migrant crisis.
"Let me tell you something New Yorkers, never in my life have I had a problem that I did not see an ending to - I don't see an ending to this," Adams said last year.
"This issue will destroy New York City," he warned.
Former Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan criticised the Biden administration's move, characterising it as "an obstructionist transition" rather than a peaceful transfer of power.
"What they're trying to do in the last final day, they're going to try to put up as many roadblocks and obstacles and throw as many grenades as they can on their way out," Morgan told the New York Post.
The change comes less than two months before Donald Trump's inauguration, who has promised mass deportations from his first day in office.
