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The federal government has placed a record number of migrants in the Alternatives to Detention program, which is a way to monitor asylum-seekers without having to incarcerate them, according to new data.
The latest data shows there are 150,755 migrant families and single individuals currently being monitored by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program, according to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) of Syracuse University.
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This is the most in the history of the program since it began in 2004, Austin Kocher, a TRAC researcher told Border Report on Wednesday.
Austin Kocher is a researcher with TRAC of Syracuse University. (TRAC Photo)
“Alternatives to Detention is often considered preferable for immigrants, because being held in detention creates barriers to procedural justice, such as making it more difficult to obtain legal counsel. ATD is also cheaper for the government than detention. However, immigration attorneys and advocates have also described negative consequences to clients on ATD, such as leading to frequent and disruptive virtual check-ins and feeling constantly watched by the government, which can be traumatic for people fleeing government persecution,” Kocher said.
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