Biden administration locks ICE Twitter account

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) locked one of its Twitter accounts Tuesday, halting all public safety alerts on illegal migrants in the U.S. with criminal backgrounds.

The account, created in 2013 and bolstered under the Trump administration, was used to post details about known "fugitives," including their name, nationality, criminal history and the U.S. jurisdiction where they were released.

"It seems the Biden Admin locked [ICE Alerts] because if you were to report the location of one of these dangerous aliens to ICE, it would become too obvious that these assaulters, drug dealers, thieves, and drunk drivers are now allowed to go free under Biden's policies," former senior advisor to ICE, Jon Feere, wrote on Twitter Tuesday.

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Feere condemned the move as an attempt by the Biden administration to hide information about criminal migrants, particularly those with sexual assault and child abuse offenses.

"ICE also used to post "Most Wanted Wednesday" tweets aimed at getting the public's help in locating public safety threats, Feere added. "The Biden Admin is apparently not too interested in public safety."

But an ICE spokesperson told Fox News the account was no longer being utilitzed under the new administration, "ICE continues to use its main twitter account, @ICEgov, and our regional twitter accounts to communicate with the public about our national security, border security, and public safety mission."

"ICE routinely updates its many communication tools to ensure accurate information remains consist with current priorities. As with similar accounts associated with prior administrations’ policies, @ICEalerts was archived as it was no longer being maintained," the spokesperson said, adding that their other social media accounts remain active for the public to receive updated information.

The account’s removal is the latest in the move by the Biden administration to break from his Democratic predecessor, President Obama – who saw 3 million migrant deportations, and which Biden has called a "big mistake."

"We took far too long to get it right," President Biden said in an interview with Univision last month.

"It was painful," Biden said. "It took too long. But we began to get it right with the DACA program."

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) allows some illegal immigrants who were brought to the country as children, to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred deportation and become eligible for work permits as long they have no felonies or serious misdemeanors.

The Obama administration and Biden were criticized for detaining groups of unaccompanied minors that flooded the southern border during Obama’s second term.

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Biden has defended the strategy and highlighted the differences from the Trump administration's policy on separating families at the border.

Though the policy was reversed in 2018, the ramifications for immigration officials continue to persist, as 500 children separated from their parents during the Trump administration have yet to be recovered.

Biden has vowed to "modernize" the U.S.’s immigration policies, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced Monday that families separated at the border will be allowed to reunite in the U.S. and seek a path to citizenship.

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"We are hoping to reunite the families, either here or in their country of origin. We hope to be in a position to give them the election," Mayorkas said in a press briefing. "And if, in fact, they seek to reunite here in the United States, we will explore lawful pathways for them to remain in the United States, and to address the family needs."

"We are acting as restoratively as possible," he added.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.