Officially announced to the world on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, the White House declared that they are currently handing out free cell phones to illegal immigrants. This specific action is reportedly in motion as an attempt for the Biden Administration to “check-in” and “track” the recipients of the phone throughout the waiting period before their individually given immigration court hearings. “We need to take steps to ensure that we know where individuals are and we can track and we can check in with them,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki claimed.
Psaki went on to give a more elaborate explanation of the newly implemented tracking method as she stated: “The Alternatives to Detention Program, which is what we utilize, has three unique forms of technology to monitor participants enrolled in the program. Telephonic is one of them, which uses a participant’s voice to create a biometric voiceprint during the enrollment process. And when the participant has a check-in call, their voice is compared to the voiceprint.” She went on to add, “Smartlink, which is another option, enables participant monitoring via smartphone or tablet using facial matching technology to establish identity.”
As a result, a majority of immigrants have managed to successfully appear at their court hearings after receiving a cellular device. Most citizens were concerned when this order originally took place, as they pondered the thought of immigrants simply throwing away their phones to stay off of the United States government’s radar. “Are there records of people throwing phones away,” Psaki stated in regards to the previous worries.