By Amy Taxin and Amancai Biraben -
The Associated Press
During the pandemic, federal authorities have expanded the use of a mobile app to monitor asylum seekers released after crossing the border and those awaiting immigration court hearings, a practice that advocates say violates their privacy and It makes you feel like you're not free.
More than 125,000 people have been forced to install the application known as SmartLink, which allows immigration officials to require them to send a
selfie
or communicate by phone.
Although the technology is less invasive than an ankle shackle, advocates for migrants say it is unfair because many have already posted bail to get out of detention centers while their cases pile up in court.
Immigration proceedings are administrative, not criminal
, and the vast majority of people with immigration cases are not in detention.
An immigrant shows the application he uses to report his location to Immigration authorities.AP
Immigrant rights advocates say they are concerned about how the federal government could use data extracted from the app about the location and contacts of immigrants to hunt down and arrest them.
“It has been amazing how in a couple of years [apps] have exploded rapidly and are now used everywhere,” said Jacinta González, of the Mijente organization, “it is making it easier for the government to track more people.”
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The use of the app by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) skyrocketed in the pandemic, when many official services were carried out online.
And he got another boost when President Joe Biden called on the Justice Department to curb the use of private prisons and find other ways to keep migrants in check before they go to court.
The number of cases stuck in immigration court has ballooned to more than 1.6 million, with migrants often having to wait years for a hearing before a judge to determine whether they can stay in the country or should be deported.
The SmartLink app was developed by BI Inc, a Boulder, Colorado-based subsidiary of private prison company GEO Group, which runs ICE migrant detention centers.
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ICE said in a statement that detention alternatives "are an effective method of tracking released non-citizens awaiting their immigration proceedings."
In recent testimony before Congress, ICE officials noted that the app is also less expensive than detention: It only costs $4.36 a day while it pays $140 a day to keep a migrant in an ICE facility, they said.
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SmartLink was initially seen as a less aggressive alternative to shackles for immigrants who had been released, but it is now being widely used on immigrants with no criminal record and who have not been detained, said Julie Mao of the group Just Futures.
Before, these people only went to the periodic controls in the offices of the agency.
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"We are very concerned that this is going to be used as an excessive standard for everyone in the immigration system," he said.
Although most attend their immigration court hearings, some go AWOL.
In those cases, immigration judges issue removal orders in absentia, and ICE agents find and remove them.
Migrant advocates questioned whether monitoring systems matter in such cases, pointing out that someone who wants to avoid court will stop registering with deportation officials, throw away their phone and move.
They said they are concerned that deportation agents may be tracking immigrants through SmartLink more than is known, just as commercial apps harness location data from people's phones.
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In the criminal justice system, similar apps are used by law enforcement agencies for defendants awaiting trial or serving time.
Robert Magaletta, CEO of Shadowtrack Technologies, said the technology does not continuously track defendants, but instead records their locations at checkpoints, and that the company offers a full-time, independent tracking service to police officers wearing proof watches. of manipulations.
During a 2019 Congressional Research Service report, ICE claimed the app was not continuously monitoring immigrants.
But activists said even quick calls of people's locations during registration could be used to track down friends and co-workers who lack legal status.
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They further noted that immigration investigators obtained GPS data from the ankle shackles of workers at a Mississippi poultry plant to help build a case for a major workplace raid.
For immigrants released from detention with ankle monitors that irritate skin and sometimes beep loudly, the app is an improvement, said Mackenzie Mackins, an immigration attorney in Los Angeles.
It's less painful and more discreet, he added, adding that the ankle monitors made his clients feel like they were seen by others as criminals.
But SmartLink can be stressful for immigrants who came to the United States fleeing persecution at home, and for those who fear a technology glitch could cause them to not register.
Roseanne Flores, a paralegal at Hilf and Hilf in Troy, Michigan, said she recently received panicked calls from clients because the app wasn't working and they had to show up in person at immigration agents' offices.
"I see the agony it causes," Flores said, "my heart goes out to them."