The Joe Biden administration is preparing a new testing program for illegal immigration management. The Department of Homeland Security is preparing to launch a new testing program to manage illegal immigrants who are caught trying to enter the United States without legal documentation. This is the ‘House Arrest’ program.
The “house arrest” program ensures that illegal immigrants caught at the U.S. border can stay autonomously at home and lead a normal life, instead of detaining them in a detention facility.
Under house arrest, you have to stay in a designated place for 12 hours from 8:00 pm to 8:00 am the next day. It can be regarded as a kind of night-time ban. There may be exceptions if illegal immigrants with work permits are required to work during these hours.
The advantage of introducing such a program is that management costs are greatly reduced. If previously caught illegal immigrants cost about $140 a day if detained in a detention facility, house arrest costs only about $6-8.
In addition, there is the aspect of preparing for the possibility that the number of illegal immigrants will continue to increase in the future. Reuters reported in a recent report that the number of illegal immigrants is expected to be caught this year as well as last year. The news agency reported that the average number of illegal immigrant arrests per day peaked at 6,500 in July 2021, and is expected to rise to 9,000 this spring. Authorities say they do not have the capacity to detain all of them in detention facilities.
The Department of Homeland Security plans to start the testing program in the coming weeks. The program will start first in Houston and Baltimore, with 100 to 200 adults enrolled in the program in Houston and Baltimore, respectively. The program will run for a first 120 days and nationwide implementation is expected later this year.
However, both conservatives and progressives criticize this plan. Proponents of tougher immigration policies argue that house arrest is a loose policy that allows illegal immigrants to roam too freely. The camps advocating human rights for immigrants point out that confinement in a certain time space is a way to restrict their human rights rather than policies such as wearing electronic anklets.
According to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data, the number of illegal immigrants currently detained in detention facilities is about 21,200 as of the 7th.
Alternatives to detention are also available. An alternative method of detention, called Alternatives to Detention (ATD), is to manage them with location-tracking devices such as the aforementioned electronic anklets instead of being confined in a detention facility. Persons enrolled in this program are not required to stay in compulsory designated locations, such as under house arrest. However, if you leave your state of residence or if you travel, you must report it to your manager. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), about 164,000 people are currently enrolled in the ATD, which is more than double the number in September 2020, before Joe Biden took office.
Whether detained in detention facilities or managed through alternative means such as an ATD program, these illegal immigrants are subject to such scrutiny until they are able to remain lawfully.
Illegal immigrants are continuously monitored and supervised after immigration applications are processed until they are processed.
The Biden administration plans to increase the number of illegal immigrants it manages as an alternative to detention, such as the ATD program. The Biden administration plans to increase the number of illegal immigrants enrolled in the ATD program, including a trial run of house arrest, to 400,000. However, since only the head of the illegal immigrant population is enrolled in these programs, the actual number of illegal immigrants is much higher.
