The Biden administration is considering a new program to roll back the use of detention for illegal immigrants and would instead release them on the condition they remain under a curfew.

Sources briefed on the matter said the Biden administration has already begun implementing “alternatives to detention” (ATD), including tracking bracelets, smartphone apps, and telephone reporting, rather than detaining migrants, thus allowing them to live and work in the U.S.

The Biden administration has been facing an unprecedented surge in migrant encounters since taking office and is seeing an increase in migrants from countries like Russia and India making their way to the border. There were approximately 1.7 million migrant encounters in FY 2021.

The right has criticized the administration for encouraging migrants with calls for amnesty and the rollback of Trump-era programs. Meanwhile, left-wing lawmakers and activists have criticized the administration for not removing more hurdles to claiming asylum.

The Biden administration is currently rolling out a new pilot program that will place hundreds of migrants on house arrest in Houston and Baltimore. Individuals enrolled in the program will be required to be at home between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. with exceptions for work and other exceptional circumstances.

The pilot program is expected to be followed by a nationwide program later this year and comes as the number of illegal immigrants in ATD skyrocketed from 35,000 when President Biden took office to just under 179,000 at this time.

Republicans have been opposed to the expansion of ATD and similar programs, warning that they encourage illegal immigration and are easy for illegal immigrants to avoid.

“We have people who are getting ankle monitors but then cutting them off as soon as they get to their final destination within the U.S,” Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., said. “If we enforced the laws on the books and said, ‘No, you aren’t able to come here illegally, you are not welcome here illegally,’ then we would be in a situation where we wouldn’t even be having this discussion.”

“Detention is the predicate to deportation,” Miller tweeted. “The radical left’s goal is to get as close to zero deportations as possible. That’s what this is all about.”

However, left-wing groups also opposed the expanded surveillance that would come with the program.

“Immigration detention is inhumane, abusive, and unjust – full stop,” Silky Shah, executive director of Detention Watch Network, said in a statement. “Reducing the number of people behind bars in immigration detention should be the Biden administration’s utmost priority. It is deeply concerning that instead the administration is growing the detention system while simultaneously growing reliance on e-incarceration.”