Biden’s Quiet Immigration Policies: What’s Really Going on Behind Closed Doors?

The Biden administration is quietly working to relax immigration policies, especially those targeting migrants who entered the U.S. illegally. As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, the current administration appears focused on making these changes to challenge his promised immigration crackdowns and mass deportations, sources reveal to The Post.

New York City is set to be the epicenter of these policy changes. The Biden team plans to roll out an app in early December that will allow migrants to bypass in-person check-ins at their local ICE offices. This app, which has been tested in other cities, promises to streamline the process for migrants, but it comes with some notable concerns. Homeland Security sources claim the app is often unreliable, with glitches affecting its function. Even when it does work, the app fails to check for past arrests or outstanding warrants, a feature that the current in-person system includes, sources said.

The first phase of the rollout will involve up to 100,000 migrants being enrolled in the app, sources added. This initiative is just one of several being pushed through in the final days of the administration, with others focusing on giving migrants the ability to contest electronic tracking orders while awaiting their immigration hearings.

Experts caution that reversing these changes could be complicated for the incoming Trump administration. Procedural hurdles and potential legal challenges could stall any attempts to undo the Biden administration’s actions. “A lot of lawsuits get filed, maybe frivolously, but it just kind of stalls what the administration wants to do,” one Department of Homeland Security source stated.

Mark Morgan, former acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, criticized the Biden administration’s efforts as an obstructionist move. “This is an obstructionist transition,” Morgan said. “What they’re trying to do in the last final day, they’re going to try to put up as many roadblocks and obstacles and throw as many grenades as they can on their way out.”

Morgan also expressed concern that Trump’s efforts to reverse Biden’s policies could face delays due to court challenges, similar to how legal battles slowed Trump’s immigration policies during his first term.

In New York City, where the app will launch, the local ICE office is already struggling to manage the high number of illegal migrants in the city. As of early last year, the office had appointments fully booked through October 2032 for migrants who had been released into the U.S., according to a document obtained by The Post. Since the migrant crisis began, over 223,000 migrants have arrived in the city, with more than 58,000 still living in city-funded shelters.

Despite “extreme issues” encountered during pilot tests of the app in other cities, the Biden administration plans to move forward with its rollout. Sources report that the app doesn’t work on Android devices, and when used on a laptop, it doesn’t track the user’s GPS location, allowing migrants to check in from anywhere. Even when used on a phone, the app only tracks a migrant’s location for seven days, which contrasts with the current system that requires proof of address and provides a continuous check for arrest records across the U.S.

The current system allows ICE officers to proactively monitor migrants, even those who fail to show up for their appointments. In sanctuary cities like New York, the current database helps ICE identify and track migrants with arrest records, even if they are not immediately detained. However, the new app and the existing migrant tracking system don’t communicate with each other, making it more difficult for ICE to track migrants with criminal histories.

“We need that information that if these people don’t go to court, they have absconded, they have a final order of removal. We need that data … to go start looking for people,” said a source.

The changes don’t stop with the app. The Biden administration is also attempting to loosen restrictions on its electronic monitoring program for migrants released into the U.S., including those who wear ankle bracelets as part of ICE’s “Alternatives to Detention” program. Proposed changes would grant migrants new rights, allowing them to contest the terms of their electronic monitoring. If implemented, migrants could request a review of their monitoring at any time and could even ask for the removal of the monitoring system altogether.

“It gives the alien the ability to get off the program entirely,” a source explained. Another insider noted that migrants could request to be “de-escalated” from monitoring if they are deemed “compliant in the program.” If denied, they would be able to initiate an appeals process, potentially creating significant administrative burdens for ICE. “What it is doing is creating a lot of burdensome administrative paperwork justifying what they’re doing now,” said the source. “I can tell you a lot of employees would just look at this and say, ‘this is too much work.’ Most cases, they’ll just terminate them from the program and not have to go through the appeal process.”

ICE did not respond immediately when contacted for comment.