Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) are introducing legislation to force President Joe Biden to use all available detention space for migrants arriving at the United States-Mexico border while streamlining a federal program to make it easier to deport illegal aliens.
The “Reshape Alternatives to Detention (ATD) Act” would prevent Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from transforming the enforcement program, meant to monitor migrants in the U.S. who are in immigration court proceedings, into a taxpayer-funded social services program.
The legislation would require DHS to use all available detention space to detain migrants arriving at the southern border.
Reshape ATD Act by John Binder
Once all available detention space is utilized, the legislation requires DHS to place migrants into the ATD program with GPS monitoring rather than the current policy where most migrants are allowed to live within the U.S. without any monitoring.
Those migrants would be GPS-monitored by DHS for the entirety of their immigration court proceedings.
“The Biden Administration has allowed a tidal wave of illegal aliens to come across our southern border, which has created an unprecedented national security and humanitarian crisis,” Hagerty said in a statement:
Yet rather than use all available tools to address the issue, Biden’s DHS is refusing to enforce the laws already on the books and making clear efforts to dismantle detention and allow illegal immigrants to roam free throughout the U.S. by abusing ATD. I’m pleased to introduce legislation to require the administration to combat record high illegal immigration and help secure our southern border. [Emphasis added]
Currently, fewer than 195,000 migrants are enrolled in the ATD program — making up a fraction of the more than 6.2 million migrants who are in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) “non-detained docket,” which allows them to live freely in the U.S. while in immigration court proceedings.
By October, experts project that those migrants living in the U.S. on ICE’s non-detained docket will hit more than 8 million, an unprecedented level. For comparison, in 2019, just three million migrants were on ICE’s non-detained docket.
The GPS monitoring requirement for the millions of migrants on ICE’s non-detained docket would ensure that a future administration, with a focus on removals, can more easily track down, detain, and deport illegal aliens who are found to have invalid claims for asylum and thus have no basis to remain in the U.S.
The bill requires DHS to notify local law enforcement of those migrants who abscond from ATD, while migrants seeking to resettle in a sanctuary jurisdiction would not be eligible to enroll in ATD. Migrants being GPS-monitored would have to check in with DHS or face expedited deportation.
“Joe Biden purposely and systematically broke our immigration system by executive action,” Donalds said in a statement:
As a result, there are now more than ten million unvetted illegal aliens that have entered our nation. These people should be held in detention facilities upon entering the United States, however, because Joe Biden has dismantled ICE’s ATD program, they are all-too-often released into our country’s interior and subsequently lost. This is why it’s critical that we utilize biometrics and GPS technology to ensure that law enforcement can pinpoint the exact location of illegal aliens prior to deportation. I am proud to join Senator Hagerty in offering this commonsense proposal on behalf of the American people. [Emphasis added]
Guatemalan migrants deported from the United States walk on the tarmac after landing at the Air Force Base in Guatemala City in the first flight of deportees of the year on January 3, 2024. (JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
In addition, the legislation would terminate the Biden administration’s Case Management Pilot Program (CMPP) and the Young Adult Case Management Program (YACMP) which offer taxpayer-funded social services to migrants in immigration court proceedings.
Instead, funding meant for CMPP and YACMP would be transferred to add more detention space for migrants arriving at the border. Those migrants enrolled in both programs would automatically be placed in DHS detention.
The National Immigration Center for Enforcement (NICE), headed by RJ Hauman, is lobbying lawmakers to get behind the Reshape ATD Act. Hauman wrote to lawmakers:
The Reshape ATD Act would stop the Biden Administration’s abuse (and watering down) of ATD, in part by requiring DHS to utilize every available detention bed before turning to ATD and ensuring that all illegal aliens on the non-detained docket (approaching 8 million) are enrolled in ATD (currently ~190k) with GPS monitoring for the duration of their immigration proceedings, including appeals.
Former Acting ICE Director Tom Homan’s op-ed in Breitbart News last year highlighted the need for such a policy:
So, in the face of this Biden-induced reality, what can be done? First, Title 8 should be used expeditiously to expel migrants found not lawful to be in the country. Second, ICE should detain and deport all aliens with final orders of removal, as well as those flagged for expedited removal. Third, for those not in ICE detention, including the millions on the non-detained docket, we should at least be tracking them with GPS so they don’t abscond. The ICE program that offers this is called the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP), and it employs GPS capabilities through monitoring devices like ankle bracelets and wrist trackers, as well as GPS-enabled apps. [Emphasis added]
For those who don’t show up to court proceedings and refuse to comply with the terms of their release, ICE should enforce penalties accordingly, but ISAP has a 98 percent success rate when migrants are kept on the technology throughout their legal proceedings. If it works, let’s use it.
[Emphasis added]
Those co-sponsoring the bill are Reps. Barry Moore (R-AL), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Jay Obernolte (R-CA), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Andrew Clyde (R-GA), Mary Miller (R-IL), Clay Higgins (R-LA), Nancy Mace (R-SC), William Timmons (R-SC), Wesley Hunt (R-TX), August Pfluger (R-TX), Troy Nehls (R-TX), and Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL), JD Vance (R-OH), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Steve Daines (R-MT), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Ted Cruz (R-TX).
While campaigning for president, former President Donald Trump is vowing to implement “the largest domestic deportation operation in American history” — a policy that is supported by 51 percent of Americans, including 68 percent of Republicans, 46 percent of swing voters, and 42 percent of Democrats.
On Biden’s watch, DHS has been deporting just one illegal alien from the U.S. interior for every roughly 70 migrants arriving at the border. Meanwhile, DHS data suggests that migrants arriving at the border have a 70 to 90 percent chance of being released into the U.S. interior.
