By Ben Kew – The Western Journal
The deal for America’s surging population of illegal immigrants just keeps getting sweeter.
Buried in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s latest annual report, released Friday, was confirmation that illegal immigrants will soon be provided with an ID card that will give them access to a variety of services.
“The ICE Secure Docket Card (SDC) project … offers a uniform, durable card provided to noncitizens upon release, and facilitates reliable access to commonly lost or damaged immigration-related paperwork,” the report details.
The report goes on to explain that the card will “allow noncitizens access to commonly used documents and services.”
CNN reported that the card can be used as a form of identification and, according to an unnamed Department of Homeland Security official, “could also be utilized at airports for travel in the future.”
An ICE official said in a statement that the SDC is “part of a pilot program to modernize various forms of documentation provided to provisionally released noncitizens through a consistent, verifiable, secure card.”
“The secure card will contain a photo, biographic identifiers, and cutting-edge security features to the mutual benefit of the government and noncitizens,” the statement said.
“Specifics of the program are still under development, but a primary goal of the SDC is to improve current, inconsistent paper forms that often degrade rapidly in real world use.”
The statement added that ICE will “consider further expansion” of the program pending the outcome of the initial effort.
A House Appropriations Committee report last year noted that the SDC program would receive $10 million in funding as part of the 2023 DHS appropriations bill.
John Fabbricatore, a former ICE official and advisory board member at the National Immigration Center for Enforcement, criticized the program.
“It’s a normalization of illegal immigration,” Fabbricatore told Breitbart, adding that “the ultimate goal of the Biden administration is to limit illegal aliens’ face-to-face contact with DHS as much as possible.”
According to Customs and Border Protection data, there were 3.2 million border encounters in fiscal year 2023, including nearly 2.5 million at the southern border, the highest yearly total in U.S. history.
The surge doesn’t look to be slowing down, as the southern border saw record numbers of daily crossings this month.