The White House is rolling out a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program that will subject asylum-seeking families that cross the U.S. border without authorization to GPS monitoring and a curfew — a move that immigrant advocates say will further criminalize migrants and ultimately expand ICE’s inhumane system of immigrant imprisonment.
The punitive surveillance program, known as Family Expedited Removal Management, comes weeks after the Biden administration announced that it would be enacting an asylum ban that is virtually identical to one proposed by former President Donald Trump. The program is meant to impose “immigration consequences,” according to a statement from ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).
The policy applies to families who have indicated an intention to apply for asylum after being placed in a fast-track deportation process upon crossing the border. Once placed in the expedited deportation process, families will be monitored until they receive a credible fear interview. Until then, the family’s head of household will be required to wear a GPS monitor, such as an ankle bracelet, and abide by a curfew from 11 pm to 5 am. If they fail the screening, they will be deported, receive a five-year expulsion, and could face criminal prosecution if they return to the U.S.
Though officials claim that the policy is designed to keep migrant families out of immigrant jails, which have been responsible for the forcible separation of thousands of families, immigrant advocates have said that the electronic monitoring of asylum seekers only further entrenches the U.S.’s system of immigrant imprisonment. Such surveillance has significantly expanded during the Biden administration.
Researchers at Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) have found that ICE is currently monitoring at least 250,000 people and, as of September 2022, using ankle monitors to surveil nearly 41,000 people.
ICE is also currently testing a surveillance pilot project on 50 adult immigrants near Denver, Colorado, using a smartwatch-like tracking device to monitor migrants who are enrolled in the Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program. Migrants will be forced to wear watches with a GPS feature throughout their entire day, receive messages from ICE officials, and notify ICE if the watch is removed.
Immigrant organizations have demanded that ICE immediately halt the pilot program, saying that it infringes on asylum seekers’ civil liberties and privacy rights.
“Congress and ICE throw away millions every year contracting with for-profit organizations instead of investing in humane and effective ways to streamline our process to welcome others,” said Andrea Loya, executive director of Casa de Paz, an organization whose mission is to reunite families separated by ICE.
The American Friends Service Committee has argued that the Biden administration’s reliance on the Alternatives to Detention program has not actually decreased the number of people imprisoned in immigrant jails.
“Reliance on ATDs is NOT decreasing the number of people in detention. More than 480,000 people have been enrolled in ICE’s ATD program as the number of people in immigration detention and detention funding both continue to increase,” the organization said. “ATD’s are an expansion of detention, not an alternative to it.”
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today during our fundraiser. We have 4 days to add 310 new monthly donors. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.