The Biden administration reportedly plans to increase the number of illegal immigrants released into the United States while the country faces an ongoing migrant crisis at the overwhelmed southern border.
Internal communications within the Department of Homeland Security, accessed by Fox News, revealed that the agency intends to make its Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program more “efficient,” increasing the number of illegal aliens let out into the country as migrant holding facilities are overwhelmed.
According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement‘s website, under the ATD program, undocumented migrants who unlawfully entered the country are let out into the United States as they await legal proceedings.
They are subject to varying degrees of supervision while they wait.
ATD supervision ranges from office or home visits to mandated checking-in at local ICE centers to GPS monitoring. The supervision level is decided case-by-case.
According to Fox, as the United States is overwhelmed by the current surge of illegal aliens at the U.S.-Mexico border, several migrants let out into the U.S. have been allowed to leave border facilities without court appearance notices.
The plan to increase ATD enrollments is one of several recent developments concerning the Biden administration’s approach to the border crisis, the outlet reported.
Axios reported Thursday that the Department of Health and Human Services is paying for adults to house migrant children illegally in the country.
According to Fox, multiple illegal migrant families have been released into the country, drawing Republican condemnation after Mexico refused to take back families with very young children.
Neither President Joe Biden, nor Vice President Kamala Harris — who was appointed by Biden to help solve the problem — have visited the border since the crisis began months ago.
Republicans and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador have criticized Biden for making the situation at the border worse through his inaction, actions and policies.
LISTEN: AZ Governor Doug Ducey declared a state of emergency in four border counties while sending National Guard troops to the southern border – @marcthiessen weighs in on the Biden administration's handling of the migrant surge #AmericaReports pic.twitter.com/16qwAi73uI
— America Reports (@AmericaRpts) April 21, 2021
On Monday, Harris plans to meet with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei online to discuss the crisis.
In a Thursday roundtable, Harris said the Biden administration is looking at multiple factors driving migrants to flee their countries, including “extreme climate.”
Harris suggested that solving the border crisis requires comprehending these factors.
A recent poll revealed, however, that multiple voters in battleground states blame Biden for how much worse the current border crisis has gotten.