• The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) admitted to the agency’s errors in publishing incorrect data previously exposed by the Daily Caller News Foundation on illegal immigrants released into the interior of the country, according to a letter exclusively obtained by the DCNF.
• “This mishap was due to an oversight and was promptly corrected once ICE became aware,” Deputy Director and Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director Tae Johnson wrote to Republican Texas Rep. Pat Fallon Wednesday.
• The DCNF earlier discovered that ICE was underreporting the number of illegal immigrants released from custody without any electronic monitoring by more than 18,000% and was underreporting the number of illegal immigrants released with GPS trackers by roughly 600%.

The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Tae Johnson, admitted to major errors in illegal immigration data recently exposed by the Daily Caller News Foundation, according to a letter the agency sent to Republican Texas Rep. Pat Fallon obtained exclusively by the DCNF.

The DCNF earlier discovered that ICE provided the public with erroneous data, underreporting the number of illegal immigrants released into the country without any tracking technology by more than 18,000% and misreporting the number of illegal immigrants tracked with GPS technology by roughly 600%. Fallon first sent a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas requesting answers about the issue on Dec. 19, then again on Jan. 26. (RELATED: ‘Bullsh*t’: Border Agency Circulates Anti-Law Enforcement, ‘BLACK RESISTANCE’ Flyer, Document Shows)

Johnson’s letters followed an apology from ICE and a subsequent correction of the data.

“ICE strongly emphasizes there was no intent to suppress or mislead elected officials, the public, or symposium participants. This mishap was due to an oversight and was promptly corrected once ICE became aware. The data provided to participants at ICE’s ATD symposium on December 1, 2022, were conect [sic], and ICE made corrections to ICE.gov by December 2, 2022. These ATD data are refreshed bi-weekly, except for court appearance data, which are refreshed monthly,” Deputy Director and Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director Tae Johnson wrote in his letter to Fallon regarding the error involving data on illegal immigrants released with GPS monitoring.

Johnson blamed the error involving the number of illegal immigrants released without tracking technology on a surge in illegal crossings at the southern border, as well as supply chain issues that made it difficult for ICE to obtain tracking technology.

“As for data regarding noncitizens released without tracking technology, 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,” Johnson wrote.

“As ICE ingested the 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 our two contractors that initially led ICE to report incorrect data. Once ICE was made aware of this data reporting error, it was immediately rectified,” he added.

ICE implemented the “Alternatives to Detention” program in 2004 to monitor illegal immigrants released into the country awaiting years-long court proceedings. The program employs a number of forms of tracking, including ankle monitors and cell phones.

Johnson argued that the program is effective in getting illegal immigrants to show up to court hearings.

In the first three months of fiscal year 2023, of the 507 hearings held for illegal immigrants in Alternatives to Detention with GPS monitors, 500 saw attendance, Johnson wrote. For those in the program tracked with other forms of technology or no technology at all, there’s a more than 99% hearing appearance rate during that same time frame.

However, there’s more to the data on court appearances that tells the full story, former Acting U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Mark Morgan told the DCNF.

“The data he provided was factual, there’s nothing indicating it’s not factual, but again what congress needs to ask is the real crux of the question is regardless of if they show up or not how many are actually removed once they get a court order of removal? And the answer to that is very few,” Morgan, who also previously served as the acting ICE Director, said.

Ice Response Rep Fallon by Daily Caller News Foundation

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