News/Commentary

Here’s why Illegal immigrants are reportedly getting smartphones on the taxpayer’s dime

May 12, 2023 | | Print Article

Amid a historic surge of illegal immigrants along the southern border with Mexico, an invasion of humanity allegedly aided and abetted by the Biden White House, video of a group of migrants being given smartphones is making the rounds.

While there’s allegedly more to the story than meets the eye, the optics alone are terrible.

Independent journalist Tayler Hansen shared the video online while adding, “Migrants open their DHS packets and use their government-issued cell phones after being processed and receiving court dates. Some migrants have shown me that their court dates are as far out as 2027.”

U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., responded to the tweet to characterize the perk as putting America “last.”

“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are giving illegal immigrants SMART PHONES paid for by US taxpayers and notices that they do not have to appear in court until 2026 or 2027! THIS IS AMERICA LAST,” she tweeted.

A Syracuse University study released in Dec. 2021 showed that there were 1.6 million asylum application court cases filed and that 667,229 were still waiting for hearings to resolve their cases as wait times “ballooned.”

“Current wait times for cases in the asylum backlog now average 1,621 days. This translates into 54 months or nearly four and a half years,” the study found.

Again, that was in 2021. There have been several million more illegal immigrants crossing into the U.S. since then.

Hansen shared documents showing court dates in 2026 and 2027, however, the New York Post reported Thursday that some migrants had paperwork “with designated court dates set as late as 2032 and 2035 in Chicago and Florida.”

As for the phones, the Department of Homeland Security said in June 2022 that 200,000 asylum-seekers released into the U.S. were issued “special cell phones.”

“These are not normal cell phones in that they cannot receive or make calls other than to organizations that are approved and pre-programmed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials,” DHS explained, before adding that “each device is equipped with a SmartLINK app that allows the migrant to receive texts and emails and access a calendar with immigration court data.”

The phones are part of the agency’s Alternatives to Detention program, and they claim the “loaned” phones save taxpayers money.

“At least 180,000 of these devices have been loaned out to asylum-seekers, according to DHS. And according to congressional testimony this year, it’s saving taxpayers money because it only costs about $4.36 per day to enroll an asylum seeker in the ATD program, as opposed to $140 per day to hold someone in detention,” the agency said.

How the phones are returned is unclear — there are reports that many migrants ditch them as soon as possible to not be tracked. The no-show rate for court dates is also through the roof. In fact, critics contend the entire immigration fiasco is little more than a politically-motivated farce to alter voter demographics in the U.S. — and the American people are allowing it to happen.

Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story from Twitter, beginning with actor James Woods:


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