Head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Tae Johnson, has admitted to significant errors in illegal immigration data recently exposed by the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF), according to a letter obtained exclusively by the DCNF.
In a letter to Republican Texas Rep. Pat Fallon, ICE apologized for underreporting the number of illegal immigrants released into the country without tracking technology by over 18,000% and misreporting the number of illegal immigrants tracked with GPS technology by approximately 600%.
The DCNF had first discovered these errors and requested answers from DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on behalf of Fallon.
ICE has since corrected the data and issued letters of apology from Johnson, who explained that the agency did not intend to suppress or mislead the public.
The mishap was due to oversights and was promptly corrected once ICE became aware of the issue.
Johnson admitted that the data provided to participants at ICE’s ATD symposium on December 1, 2022, were incorrect, but were later rectified by December 2, 2022.
These ATD data are refreshed bi-weekly, except for court appearance data, which are refreshed monthly.
Regarding the error involving data on illegal immigrants released with GPS monitoring, Johnson blamed a surge in illegal crossings at the southern border and supply chain issues that made it difficult for ICE to obtain tracking technology.
Johnson wrote that “during the summer of 2022, an increase in U.S. Border Patrol arrests and ATD technology supply chain issues led to ICE releasing noncitizens on the Southwest Border without ATD technology and later reevaluating the case for technology once they reported to ICE.”
“This change led ICE to report data on noncitizens released without ATD technology in addition to those released with technology,” he went on to say.
Concerning data on noncitizens released without tracking technology, Johnson explained that as ICE collected data into its databases from the ISAP-ATD contractor, the data for noncitizens released with a GPS device and those released with no technology was reported in a similar format.
This resulted in an oversight between two contractors that initially led ICE to report incorrect data.
Johnson added, “Once ICE was made aware of this data reporting error, it was immediately rectified.”
ICE implemented the “Alternatives to Detention” program in 2004 to monitor illegal immigrants released into the country awaiting years-long court proceedings.
The program uses ankle monitors and cell phones to track illegal immigrants.
Johnson argued that the program is effective in getting illegal immigrants to show up to court hearings.
