A federal judge ordered the Department of Homeland Security to release periodic updates on over 2,500 migrants "unlawfully in the country," saying the agency lacks any plan to track them down.
U.S. District Judge Kent Wetherell of Florida's northern federal court placed a temporary restraining order on the Biden administration on May 11 that blocked DHS from releasing noncitizens into the United States through Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas's "parole with conditions" policy.
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Following Wetherell's TRO, Immigration and Customs Enforcement revealed that a group of 2,572 illegal immigrants were released into the country at the U.S.-Mexico border and that around 41.4% of them never checked in within 60 days to receive their court summons and initiate their removal proceedings.
“The Court is skeptical that DHS is serious about tracking down the aliens who did not check in as directed or that it will take any action against them if it ever finds them,” Wetherell wrote in a two-page filing on Tuesday.
The PWC program does not include a measure for tracking its participants. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody previously filed a lawsuit against an immigration parole program known as Parole Plus Alternatives to Detention, which included tracking parolees with body-worn GPS monitors.
Wetherell vacated the Parole + ATD program in March, ruling that the policy conflicted with a requirement under the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Act that illegal immigrants must be detained from when they are apprehended to when their removal proceedings are finalized.
The judge also wrote on Tuesday that around 2,108 (82%) of the immigrants released after his TRO are either awaiting issuance of a notice to appear in court or "their whereabouts are unknown."
"These statistics are troubling to say the least. But even more troubling is the fact that DHS apparently does not have a plan in place to track down the aliens who are in violation of the conditions of their 'parole' — and, thus, unlawfully in the country," Wetherell wrote.
Although Wetherell acknowledged he lacks the authority to order DHS to track down and take custody of the group of illegal immigrants, he ordered the agency to file updates every 30 days about their status. The due date for the next update is Aug. 18.
“All the Court can do at this point is require DHS to continue to provide updated information on those aliens — for whatever that is worth to those who are responsible for overseeing DHS and holding its policymakers accountable for their acts and omissions," he wrote.
Wetherell's TRO came just before the end of Title 42, a policy that allowed the rapid expulsion of immigrants at the southern border on the basis of a public health emergency.
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Immigrant numbers at the southern border dropped sharply in June, the first full month after ending the pandemic-era health mandate. There were 144,571 immigrant encounters in June, compared to 207,834 in June last year and 189,034 in June 2021, bringing the numbers to the lowest in two years.
The Washington Examiner contacted DHS for a response.