EXCLUSIVE: The Trump transition team is considering a significant expansion in how ankle-worn GPS monitors are used to track illegal immigrants who are not in federal immigration detention, Fox News Digital has learned.
President-elect Trump has promised to launch a mass deportation operation as soon as he is sworn in, and his transition team is already working on plans to make that happen.
Multiple sources familiar with the discussions told Fox News Digital that the priority for the new administration is the detention and deportation of illegal immigrants, along with preventing them from entering the US in the first place.
But with Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) detention capacity now in the tens of thousands, compared to the millions not currently in detention, officials are also expected to increase monitoring of those not in detention until they can be deleted.
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In this undated photo, ICE agents arrest an illegal immigrant. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
Under the Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program, newly arrived illegal immigrants undergoing legal proceedings are monitored by a device worn on the ankle or wrist, or by means of a mobile phone app with which they must register with ICE. According to ICE data, only 187,747 individuals are being monitored by technology as of November, including about 25,000 through ankle monitors or wrist-worn devices. Typically, migrants are placed under ATD upon release at the border and earlier in the life cycle of their case.
The Trump administration is exploring ways to increase the number of illegal immigrants monitored by an ankle or wrist monitor, while also greatly reducing the number of non-detainees. Officials also want GPS tracking to remain available for much longer than it is now. Sources stressed that if the southern border entry points are closed, as the administration plans to do, this will allow more people to be transferred domestically to devices, and could take longer because the devices are no longer needed for newcomers entering the country. US
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Migrants, recently released from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center, wear ankle monitors as they wait to board their flight at the Shreveport Regional Airport (SHV) in Shreveport, La., August 14, 2024. (Via Getty Images/Bloomberg)
Supporters of ATD and ICE have argued that compliance among those under supervision remains high, and that it is cheaper than detention – $8 per day compared to $150 per day. But some immigration activists have dismissed the ATD program as creating “digital prisons,” while some on the right have argued that the technology should be expanded so that illegal immigrants can be tracked and removed if they receive a final warrant. of deportation.
The increase in the use of GPS monitoring could also come with additional fines for lack of compliance, although it is still not clear what those sanctions would be.
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Increasing the number of non-detained immigrants on ATD has been a priority for Republicans. The Justice for Jocelyn ActIntroduced this year by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, would require the administration to enroll all illegal immigrants in the non-detained roll for continuous GPS monitoring. It would also require those enrolled to be home between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. and any failure to comply with an order that they be removed in absentia would be punishable.
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Significant expansion of ICE capacity is expected in the next administration, given the promise of a mass deportation campaign. The GEO Group, the exclusive contractor for that technology, announced Monday a $70 million investment to expand its capabilities to provide detention capacity, secure transportation and electronic monitoring services to ICE.
