The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Effectiveness of immigrant ankle monitors questioned
EL PASO, TEXAS — Federal authorities’ shift away from separating immigrant families caught in the U.S. illegally now means that many parents and children are released and fitted with electronic monitoring devices — which both the government and advocacy groups oppose for different reasons.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is issuing thousands of 5.5-ounce ankle monitors that immigrants call grilletes, or electronic shackles. The government says they get people to show up to immigration court, but that they stop working once deportation proceedings begin.
Attorneys and people who wore the devices or helped monitor those wearing them say that’s because some immigrants simply ditch them and disappear.
Immigrant advocates and legal experts argue, meanwhile, that the devices — which are commonly used for criminal parolees — are inappropriate and inhumane for people seeking U.S. asylum.
Congress first established the program in 2002, though GPS monitors’ use increased even more after 2014, when thousands of unaccompanied minors and families began traveling to the U.S.-Mexico border and asking for asylum, fleeing gang and drug smugglers or domestic violence in Central America.
Earlier this year, immigrant families were separated as part of a “zero tolerance” program. But after a presidential executive order reversed that, families are often detained, then issued ankle monitors and released as they progress through often lengthy immigration court proceedings.
Sandra, who asked that her full name not be published, so as not to jeopardize her case, said she left northern Guatemala in May with her 12-year-old son, Juan Carlos. She said she had faced discrimination because of her dark skin, and also was attacked sexually by a man who threatened to kill her if she went to the police.
They were held in different Texas detention centers for nearly two months, then reunited and released — but she got an ankle monitor.
“I feel tortured,” said Sandra who said she fled Guatemala. “I’m not in one of those detention centers, thank God, but I still feel like I’m a prisoner.”
As of early July, there were nearly 84,500 active participants in ICE’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, or alternatives to detention — more than triple the number in November 2014. Around 45 percent of those were issued GPS monitors.
ICE spokesman Matthew Bourke said immigration court attendance is strong for immigrants in intensive supervision, but that ankle monitors and other measures are “not an effective tool” after deportation orders are issued. There isn’t reliable information on the number of ankle monitor recipients who remove them and flee, but many say it’s high.
“People can just cut those things off if they want to,” said Sara Ramey, a San Antonio immigration attorney whose asylum-seeking clients are routinely assigned ankle monitors.
The most recent available data was in 2012, when a contractor’s annual report showed that 17,524 people, or around 65 percent of nearly 40,500 total participants, left the intensive supervision program that year. Of those, around a fifth were deported or granted asylum, while about 5 percent “absconded.” The rest were arrested, violated other program rules or were no longer required to participate for unspecified reasons.