Ed Cuccia, an immigration attorney in Manhattan, said several of his clients had already received the app when it was being tested, with instructions to check in up to once a week.

“It’s a bit wrong,” he told The Telegraph.

“We’ve had people where it didn’t work right, they had to keep pushing buttons,” he added.

“A Little Joke”

But Mr Cuccia, of the Cuccia Law Firm, said he did not think changing the system would make much of a difference because in-person checks were already “a bit of a joke”.

“There’s not much difference between doing this with the app and reporting in person. You just say ‘hello, hi,’” he said.

He added: “The system is so laggy that I have people registering, then they get court dates for 2032, and that’s not even a court date, per se… It’s a date to go in to get the court date. “

More than 223,000 migrants have arrived in New York City since spring 2022, with tens of thousands still housed in shelters.

Eric Adams, the city’s mayor, has consistently criticized the Biden administration on managing the migrant crisis.

“Let me tell you, New Yorkers, I’ve never had a problem in my life that I didn’t see an end to — I don’t see an end to it,” he said last year.

“This issue will destroy New York City.”

“Obstructionist Transition”

Mark Morgan, the former acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, told the New York Post that the Biden administration’s loosening of immigration protocol was “the opposite of a peaceful transition of power”.

“This is an obstructionist transition,” he said.

“What they’re trying to do in the last final day, they’re going to try to put up as many roadblocks and obstacles as they can and they’re going to throw as many grenades in their way.”

The Telegraph has contacted ICE and Mr Adams’ office for comment.