The Biden administration intends to offer some illegal immigrants a temporary ID card that could eventually be used for travel on domestic airlines.
The program, titled the “ICE Secure Docket Card program,” is funded with $10 million for the program in the Biden administration’s fiscal year 2023 appropriations bill, which states, “$10,000,000 for the ICE Secure Docket Card program to allow noncitizens access to immigration files and documents.”
The card will ostensibly be offered to illegal immigrants waiting the final decision on their status, two government sources told Axios, which added that the Biden administration wants Congressional approval before October to forestall a possible blockage of the program if Republicans take back the House in November.
The card will include the illegal immigrant’s name, nationality, and a QR code.
“Specifics of the program are still under development, but a primary goal of the SDC is to improve current, inconsistent paper forms that often degrade rapidly in real world use. Pending the outcome of the pilot, ICE will consider further expansion,” a spokesperson for ICE told CNN.
The Daily Wire’s Luke Rosiak reported in late June that a federal document revealed the Biden Administration was paying cash or reimbursements to underage illegal immigrants or their relatives for travel to communities across the nation. Rosiak wrote:
The Department of Health and Human Services document, which deals with settling “unaccompanied minor” illegal immigrants in the U.S., says under the category “Sponsor Travel Support” that U.S. taxpayers will foot the bill if the minor can’t. …
“Historically, [Office of Refugee Resettlement] had a 20% funding cap on travel for sponsors if a sponsor was unable to pay,” the document stated. “This cap has been lifted and supplemental funding requests are now permitted. As of March 22, 2021, ORR can pay for the sponsor, UC [unaccompanied child], or escort’s travel upfront as well as reimbursements.”
In September 2021, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas wrote in a memo:
The fact an individual is a removable noncitizen therefore should not alone be the basis of an enforcement action against them. We will use our discretion and focus our enforcement resources in a more targeted way. Justice and our country’s well-being require it.
Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) asked Mayorkas whether his statement was applicable to illegal immigrants who had a final removal order against them.
“We cannot remove 1.2 million individuals,” Mayorkas replied. “I would not necessarily accept the fact that all of them have received due process.”