A program that began as an alternative to alleviate the immigration crisis has expanded astronomically under the Biden administration.
More than 136,000 immigrants are enrolled in an electronic surveillance program of the Immigration and Customs Service presented as an alternative to detention, the news portal The Hill reported on Friday.
This is a record number that has skyrocketed since the Biden Administration arrived earlier this year, when there were some 86,000 immigrants in the
Intensive Appearance Monitoring Program
(ISAP).
ISAP, which was first implemented in 2004, has become one of the most used tools by the immigration authorities of the Biden Administration, to the alarm of many migrant advocates who warn of its harmful consequences for the mental health of immigrants and their privacy.
In this July 2018 file photo, an immigrant woman shows off her GPS monitor on her ankle.Eric Gay / AP
The program requires individuals released by ICE while pursuing their case through the country's immigration courts to use either a
geolocation device on the ankle, a system for reporting through audio messages, or a phone app called SmartLINK.
All three tools have been developed by BI Incorporated, a subsidiary of the GEO Group, which has won all bids since the program's inception and manages a vast network of detention centers.
[The border did not open for a Mexican who misses her daughter and granddaughters]
New York University professor Austin Kocher said in an interview with The Hill that
the number of immigrants in the program has skyrocketed since Joe Biden became president.
"The Administration is somewhat reluctant to let the number of detainees rise too high because it was during the pandemic, for good reasons," said the expert.
Biden has tried to distance himself from the way his predecessor, Donald Trump, treated immigrants, promising that he will create a more humane system.
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However, experts agree that the surveillance program, which has been sold as an alternative to detention, poses serious problems and in practice has not reduced the number of detained immigrants.
In fact, at the same time that electronic supervision has increased, the number of immigrants in custody has almost doubled, now numbering more than 22,000.
On average,
immigrants enrolled in ISAP spend 615 days in the program.
According to a survey by the Markowitz Clinic, 90% of immigrants who have used an electronic ankle shackle reported experiencing pain, lacerations and cramps.
Also 90% said that the GPS monitor had negatively affected their mental health.
And 12% reported having suicidal thoughts.
We cannot replace these physical prisons with high-tech ones because they are perpetuating the same prison approach to immigration. "
Aly Panjwani from Just Futures Law
In recent months, the number of immigrants with ankle monitors has decreased, while the number of those using the SmartLINK app has increased.
From 46% shackled in June, it went to 21.7% in October.
Last month almost 60% of immigrants were registered in the application.
In this format, immigrants must take a photo and send it when requested.
The photograph is authenticated thanks to a software that compares the photo that is already in the registry.
The application also has the option to make video calls and remembers when appointments are in immigration court.
The authorities ensure that they do not track the location of immigrants 24 hours a day, but only when they use the app.
[This should be done if you receive a notice from ICE to go to court]
Although this smartphone program is an alternative to detention and electronic shackles, immigrant rights advocates argue that the entire ISAP program should be dismantled.
"We are firm that the criminalization of immigration must end," Aly Panjwani, of the Just Futures Law organization, told the aforementioned media.
"We cannot replace these physical prisons with high-tech ones because they are perpetuating the same prison approach to immigration that the [Department of Homeland Security] has had since its founding," he added.