The Biden administration will release some migrants into the United States without the ability to track them or court dates, the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday.
Multiple sources initially told NBC News that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was preparing a memorandum on the matter before he confirmed the policy at a news conference hours later.
"The vast majority will be addressed in our border patrol facilities and our ICE detention facilities," Mayorkas stated, assuring that those affected by the policy represent "a fraction of the people that we encounter."
The actual memo, sources noted, directs Customs and Border Protection to release some of their detained apprehensions on "parole" with a notice of when to report to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.
But most will not need to enroll in ICE's Alternatives to Detention, a mobile app tracking program that the administration previously used for undocumented migrants awaiting court dates and not in detention.
The Biden administration began releasing migrants without court dates to aid with overcrowdingh two years ago, NBC said. Now, circumstances are creating even more of a potential surge of human traffic from Mexico to America.
This latest move comes after the Border Patrol apprehended over 11,000 migrants Tuesday, a single-day record that surpassed the expected 10,000 per day the Department of Homeland Security predicted in the coming weeks.
The surge is related to DHS' decision to stop utilizing Title 42 Section 265, a provision that allows the government to bar individuals from entering if they come from a country with an infectious disease present. The policy has been used to help control the flow of immigration, and many on both sides of the aisle have raised real alarm about what happens when that brake is no longer in place.
Title 42 is set to expire Thursday after being in place since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, initially enacted by former President Donald Trump's administration.
A DHS spokesperson later contended that past administrations had enacted similar policies due to overcrowding and that only migrants who have "undergone strict national security and public safety vetting" will qualify.
"Each parole will be considered on an individualized case-by-case basis, and individuals who are released will be required to check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and undergo removal proceedings in immigration court," the spokesperson informed NBC.
"Individuals may be placed into an Alternatives to Detention program to ensure compliance, if deemed appropriate," they continued. "The targeted use of parole will allow Border Patrol to focus its resources most effectively to quickly process and remove individuals who do not have a legal basis to remain in the country."
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody stated later Wednesday the memo in question dates to last year, and that her office uncovered it during litigation against the administration.
“We uncovered Biden’s disastrous plan almost a year ago, yet the corporate media ignored the overwhelming evidence that DHS plans to stand down as Title 42 expires and hundreds of thousands of migrants storm the Southwest Border," Moody, a Republican, said. "Americans need to know that this crisis is about to kick into overdrive, and it is because of the deliberate dismantling of our public-safety immigration structures that Biden and Mayorkas have been attacking since day one in office.”
Her office also insisted the Biden administration was ignoring a court order that declared its Alternatives to Detention policy unlawful by floating it as a possible solution in some cases.
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