Julian Castro: Put ankle monitors on illegal immigrants rather than detaining them

by Naomi Lim
| January 13, 2019 02:37 PM


Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro on Sunday said he would prefer to track illegal immigrants using ankle monitors rather than detaining them.

The former Obama administration housing chief and former mayor of San Antonio made the comments while discussing how he would deal with the increase in migrant families crossing the southern border illegally, should he win his party's nomination for president in 2020. Castro on Saturday officially launched a 2020 White House bid.

"What I believe we could do and what the Obama administration did do, I believe, toward the end of its tenure, was to look at things like ankle monitors so that you're able to monitor where people are in the country," he said during an interview with CBS News' "Face the Nation" when asked what he would do with illegal immigrants in lieu of detention or deportation.

Castro, the grandson of a Mexican immigrant, said that he didn't consider detaining family units seeking asylum or refugee status to be a viable policy option. He also hit back at President Trump's categorization of the situation on the U.S.-Mexico border as a "crisis," describing it instead as a "tragedy."

"We also need to be serious about recognizing the right of people to seek asylum, and the president is playing games with this, blocking people's right to seek asylum. I would change that," he said. "I would make sure that we push as hard as possible for comprehensive immigration reform, so that for the people who are already here, if they've been law abiding, if they pay a fine, that they can get an earned path to citizenship."

The practice of strapping GPS monitors on illegal immigrants apprehended for unlawful entry who then claim asylum or some other status has been approved by Congress for almost two decades, according to the Associated Press. The bracelets were used frequently during the Obama administration and are part of a policy that has carried over to the Trump presidency. Trump administration officials, however, argue the effectiveness of the monitors wanes if an immigrant's application is denied because they can easily be removed.

Castro's announcement on Saturday was quickly met with derision from the Republican National Committee, which called him "one of the biggest lightweights to ever run for president."

"They're going to use those kinds of words for every single Democrat that decides to run for president. I wouldn't put too much stock in that," he countered on Sunday. "[I] grew up in a single-parent household, went to the public schools here in San Antonio, was able to go to college and law school, and to reach my American dream. And I am motivated to make sure that every American can reach their dreams."

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/n...detaining-them

ICE: 3 in 10 illegal immigrant family units cut off ankle bracelets after being released from custody

by Anna Giaritelli
| September 18, 2018 12:44 PM

https://i.connatix.com/s3/connatix-u...=433&width=770


Around 3 in 10 families apprehended for illegally entering the United States from Mexico cut off their ankle monitoring devices shortly after being released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and told to show up for asylum hearings, an ICE official said Tuesday.

"Nearly 3 in 10 family units are cutting off their ankle bracelets at the beginning of the process when they've been released from our custody within days or weeks so they're not even going to get to that point where they could get the final removal order," Matthew Albence, executive associate director for ICE, testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Albence said the Homeland Security Department's inability to get all illegal immigrants released from custody and told to appear for court hearings was in part due to people ditching their ankle bracelets and disappearing into the interior of the country.


https://i.connatix.com/s3/connatix-u...=253&width=450


Those waiting to hear if their asylum cases are approved or denied were more likely to keep their monitors in tact and show up for court, but once their cases were denied, they were not likely to show up when a judge would then later order them deported.
"They will comply up until the benefit of complying is not there," said Albence.

The committee's ranking Democrat, Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, asked Albence how it was monitoring illegal immigrants whose asylum requests were denied and they were to be deported.

Albence said the ankle monitoring program, known as Alternatives to Detention, was being used at much lower rates among those who applied for asylum, were denied, and ordered deported. McCaskill was upset ICE focused more on monitoring asylum applicants than those who posed a threat by not showing up to court and broke the law by evading deportation orders.

[More: Ankle monitors lead to fewer deportations than detention: ICE]

"It reminds me of how we got people to court when they were charged with a crime. And we would never dream of after the jury had found them guilty and they were sentenced, we would never dream of deciding that would be the least intensive time of monitoring," McCaskill said. "We ought to figure out a way to make court appearances more likely."

Those whose asylum claims are denied may appeal the ruling within 30 days. McCaskill said "they could be monitored" for that time to ensure they are picked up for removal if the appeal fails.

But Albence said his agency lacks the money, personnel, and resources to actually go after noncriminal offenders who have been ordered deported.

"ICE has not been given resources to go out and effectuate these at-large arrests in many years," he said.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/n...d-from-custody

Ankle monitors lead to fewer deportations than detention: ICE

by Anna Giaritelli
| September 18, 2018 11:50 AM

https://i.connatix.com/s3/connatix-u...=433&width=770


A senior U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said Tuesday that making illegal immigrants wear ankle monitors when they arrive in the U.S. is a less effective and more costly way to eventually deport them when compared to simply detaining them.

The Alternatives to Detention program, or ATD, allowed families that are apprehended for unlawful entry and then claim asylum to be released from ICE custody into the United States. Adults are given ankle monitors under the program to ensure they show up for court dates to hear their asylum requests, and most cases are decided in at least one to two years.

The ankle monitors were heavily used this summer when up to 10,000 families were being apprehended at the southwest border each month, which created a lack of detention space for families. But Matthew Albence, executive associate director for ICE, said this system has not been nearly as effective as detention.


https://i.connatix.com/s3/connatix-u...=253&width=450


[Related: ICE: 3 in 10 illegal immigrant family units cut off ankle bracelets after being released from custody]

"This issue has not been effectively mitigated by the use of Alternatives to Detention, which has proved to be substantially less effective and cost-efficient in securing removals than detention," Albence said in his prepared remarks before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

"While the cost of detention per day is higher than the cost of ATD per day, because those enrolled in the ATD program often stay enrolled for several years or more, while those subject to detention have an average length of stay of approximately 40 days, the costs of ATD outweighs the costs of detention in many cases," added Albence.

Albence said in fiscal year 2014, ICE spent $91 million on the ankle monitoring program. That number jumped to $183 million in 2017, but Albence noted that while the spending doubled, detentions only rose slightly, from 2,157 in 2014 to 2,430 in 2017.

He noted that this is an increase of "only 273 removals for the additional $92 million investment, and an average cost of $75,360 per removal. Had this funding been utilized for detention, based on FY 2017 averages, ICE could have removed almost ten times the number of aliens as it did via ATD."

From FY 2014 through June 2017, 44 percent of families in the ATD program were ordered to be deported. More than half of those, 53 percent, were not at court on the day they were ordered deported for failing to meet asylum standards.

From Oct. 1, 2017 through July, 28 percent of families released with ankle monitors have not showed up for court hearings, he said.

Albence said there are "tens of thousands" of families and children who were released to sponsors who never showed up for their court dates and that it lacks the manpower to find all of these people even with the monitoring devices.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/ankle-monitors-lead-to-fewer-deportations-than-detention-ice

100% EFFECTIVE...process them and deport them within 48 hours, including their UAC's!

Second apprehension...put them on Prison Island!

Stop forcing U.S. taxpayers to detain, jail, educate, provide healthcare, court, lawyers for illegal aliens!!!

No papers
No entry
No rights!!!