Incoming Trump admin looks to expand ankle monitor use for illegal migrants: report

The Trump transition team is considering a plan to increase the number of ankle monitors used to track the millions of illegal migrants who are currently roaming the country after they were released at the border, according to Fox News.

While President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration wants to detain as many illegal migrants as possible to carry out its planned mass deportation effort, it’s hoping to place more ankle monitors for a longer period of time on those it doesn’t have the capacity to hold, the outlet reported.

There are currently more than 7 million migrants who are not in federal custody, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) only has the capacity to hold tens of thousands — and the incoming Trump administration has made clear that it wants to prioritize detaining and deporting migrants who have committed crimes.

The program, which is dubbed “Alternatives to Detention,” is currently tracking more than 25,000 migrants using ankle and wrist-worn monitors, which costs taxpayers an average of nearly $80,000 each day, according to ICE data.

Through the ongoing discussions, the Trump transition team is weighing increasing the number of migrants tracked with ankle bracelets and wrist-worn monitors while lengthening the amount of time they’re required to wear the tracking devices, per Fox News.

The ankle monitors are the most restrictive form of electronic monitoring used by ICE. However, it’s not a “substitute” for detention, former ICE chief Ron Vitiello told The Post.

ICE sources tell The Post the program has seen its fair share of absconders, and they fear they won’t have the resources to find the fugitives once Trump takes office.

Additionally, migrants enrolled in the program are typically taken out of it before their immigration cases are fully adjudicated.

“The problem is going to be finding all of these people,” a source said.

“They’re gonna cut them and then what? Then you’re going to have to run around, and you’re going to chase these people down. … And then what? And then what do you do when you chase him down? You still don’t have bed space,” another source lamented.

In one well-known example, one of the alleged killers of little Jocelyn Nungaray was wearing the ICE ankle bracelet during the 12-year-old’s murder and cut it after as he ran from authorities, Homeland Security sources previously told The Post.

Vitiello is critical of the program as it is currently used, but believes they can better track down absconders while carrying out mass deportations if ICE can expand its detention space, manpower, fugitive operations, cooperation with local jails and deportation flights, he said.

“It’s time for a clean sheet review of alternatives to detention because the numbers don’t bear out its effectiveness. So it’s just not that it’s not there, but it could be,” Vitiello said.

“These things aren’t useful alternatives to somebody being in a detention center, are certainly less expensive. But if they don’t lead you to a path to removal and deportation, then it’s just not,” he added.

The number of migrants enrolled in the tracking program has more than doubled since 2015, according to a 2022 government watchdog report.

The program is run by a contractor, the Geo Group, which recently announced a $70 million investment that will help enhance detention capacity and ICE’s electronic monitoring program.