ICE’s Plans To Give Illegal Immigrants Photo IDs Inches Closer To Reality

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is moving closer towards giving illegal immigrants identification cards, according to new images obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

In 2022, the agency announced the ICE Secure Docket program as a “pilot to modernize various forms of documentation provided to provisionally released noncitizens through a consistent, verifiable, secure card,” an ICE spokesperson told the DCNF at the time. The program is intended to allow migrants to use IDs as their cases progress; the IDs contain QR codes allowing migrants to access their court documents to prove to authorities that they have pending immigration cases, allowing them to travel through Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints with greater ease.

“Present this card upon any contact with an ICE or CBP officer as a tool for verifying your immigration case and current release status. In addition, you may access online tools available through the ICE portal through the Quick Response (QR) code on the front of this document to manage and monitor your immigration case,” a recent memo regarding the use of the cards read.

TSA already allows migrants to use ICE forms labeled “Warrant for Arrest of Alien” and a “Warrant of Removal/Deportation,” according to an email obtained by the DCNF in January.

Meanwhile, illegal immigration continues to surge at the southern border, where Border Patrol has recorded more than 1.6 million illegal crossings in the first ten months of fiscal year 2023, according to federal data. Additionally, a few thousand migrants have been seen crossing the southern border into the small Texas border town of Eagle Pass in recent days, leading the mayor to declare a state of emergency, according to videos of the incidents.

Border authorities in San Diego and El Paso have also seen surges in illegal immigration in recent days.

ICE didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.