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Report Details ‘Digital’ Border Wall Protections

Plus: The Biden administration expands where immigration authorities can't make arrests, and $100 billion in federal funding for immigration

This summary was featured in Documented’s Early Arrival newsletter. You can subscribe to receive it in your inbox three times per week here.

Three activist groups compiled a report detailing the surveillance tools the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has implemented at the U.S.-Mexico border under the Biden administration. The so-called digital border wall is secured with technology, including surveillance towers, drones, cameras and automated license plate readers. Biometrics, such as DNA, facial and voice recognition and iris scans, can be used to watch individuals. Phone and vehicle surveillance technologies are also in place. And CBP One, a new mobile application, may also be used to gather personal information and biometrics on asylum seekers before they come to the U.S. Deanna Garcia for Documented.

In other federal immigration news…

Officials Expand Where Immigration Agents Can’t Make Arrests

On Wednesday, the Biden administration issued a new policy that expands the list of locations, labeled as “sensitive,” in which ICE officers and border agents can’t make arrests. These places include domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters, and playgrounds. This is the Biden administration’s latest effort to reform immigration enforcement focusing on “serious” targets instead of causing fear by administering unfocused arrests and detentions within the U.S. The new policy comes months after a memo restricted arrests in courthouses and weeks after another policy that barred worksite raids, which became common in the Trump era. BuzzFeed News 

Biden Spending $100 Billion on Immigration

The Biden administration announced Thursday it plans on setting aside roughly $100 billion for immigration issues in its $1.75 trillion social spending package. The House meanwhile released its own plan for providing legal status to undocumented individuals. In a statement, the White House said the framework would “reform our broken immigration system” and includes provisions aimed at “reducing backlogs, expanding legal representation, and making the asylum system and border processing more efficient and humane.” The House released a draft text of its bill, which included an arrangement to allow undocumented immigrants, who arrived in the U.S. by 2020, to apply for legal status. The bill also includes a plan to recover about 226,000 unused visas. The Hill

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