Dems call for additional $20 million in funding for controversial DHS program aiding illegal immigrants

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Top House Democrats are calling for "robust funding" of a controversial pilot program that aids illegal immigrants facing deportation -- while also saying that funding should not be accompanied by more Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) surveillance of those in the U.S. illegally.

Thirty-six Democrats led by Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., Jerrold Nadler, D-NY and Nanette Diaz Barragin, D-Calif., urge the Office of Management and Budget to continue the $20 million in funding for the Case Management Pilot Program (CMPP).

They also call for the OMB to "instruct the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to prioritize establishing the program and that the expansion of CMPP does not result in an expansion of individuals subject to ICE surveillance through detention and electronic surveillance."

The CMPP was authorized by Congress in the 2021 DHS Appropriations Act, which provided $5 million in funding to FEMA for the program. It was funding for an additional $20 million in the FY 23 appropriations bill. 

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Migrants wait in line to board a chartered bus traveling to New York outside a Welcome Center in El Paso, Texas, US, on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022.  (Photographer: Paul Ratje/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The program provides "voluntary case management and other services" to illegal immigrants in immigration removal proceedings, including mental health services, school enrollment, legal aid, "cultural orientation programs" and connections to social services -- as well as human trafficking screening and departure planning for those being deported.

The services are intended for migrants enrolled in ICE’s Alternative to Detention program -- which involves more than 300,000 illegal immigrants being tracked by a variety of methods including ankle bracelets, phone check-in and smart-phone apps.

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While the CMPP sees participants remain in ATD, the lawmakers call for those forms of ATD, known as ISAP -- Intensive Supervision Appearance Program – to be reduced and not expanded as operations resume as COVID-19 protocols subside.

The lawmakers argue that ISAP "does not provide meaningful assistance to help immigrants navigate the legal process."

"We are concerned as ICE continues to return to regular operations, ICE will continue to expand the use of ISAP as it also ramps up detention," they say.

Democrats said that case management programs had proven their effectiveness as a way of avoiding detention for those in the country illegally.

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"Case management programs have proven highly effective to ensure that individuals can navigate immigration proceedings and comply with the process while reducing our reliance on immigration detention," the lawmakers wrote. "Moreover, case management is more cost-effective and humane compared to immigration detention."

They argue that programs such as CMPP are "crucial to reduce our reliance on immigration detention while ensuring that individuals who lack community ties and would benefit from additional assistance have assistance to comply with immigration proceedings."

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Those calls are unlikely to be accepted by their Republican counterparts, many of whom have lambasted the Biden administration for their reliance on ATD and the reduction in ICE deportations and arrests made during the administration. The Biden administration has also moved away from immigration detention, just as the border is seeing a historic spike in the number of migrants hitting the southern border.

Last year, Sens. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, and Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., demanded more information about the CMPP, particularly due to its oversight by a nonprofit that has previously called for the defunding and abolition of ICE. 

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"It is well-past time that the Case Management Pilot Program (CMPP) be subject to the oversight that it so sorely needs," the Republican senators wrote in a letter to top DHS officials. "Congress has a duty, including a fiduciary duty, to ensure that taxpayer money is spent correctly and that a congressionally directed pilot program has not been usurped as a means of funneling money to NGOs espousing rhetoric aimed at frustrating and dismantling immigration enforcement and our nation’s borders."

"It is appalling, though not surprising from the current administration, that a program designed to augment Alternatives to Detention (ATDs) would be used as a ploy to further leftist ideology instead of enhancing the critical mission tasked to the Department," they say.