Concern is growing over Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) dramatic expansion of its “Alternatives to Detention” (ATD) programs. ATD includes electronic surveillance using ankle monitors, the SmartLINK phone app, and even smart watches (VeriWatch). Ankle monitors and other GPS monitoring cause lasting psychological, physical, and societal harm to migrants and their families, including anxiety and depression, immobility, difficulty maintaining employment and participating in everyday activities, social stigma, and even retraumatization in some cases.
In our work providing legal services to thousands of immigrants facing detention and removal, Amica Center has seen the serious harm caused by ATD programs. This annual report highlights some overall trends in ICE’s ATD programs over the past fiscal year, including which ICE field offices are engaged in the most surveillance and which surveillance technology ICE is using in different regions of the country.
Some ICE Field Offices are keeping people in ATD surveillance programs for more than two years on average, far above the national average.
We have seen the average length in program (ALIP) for ATD enrollees increase while total enrollment in ATD nationwide has decreased from record highs in 2022.
Nearly half of all ATD enrollees nationwide are under the jurisdiction of just five ICE Field Offices, meaning the use of ATD surveillance programs appears to be concentrated in certain ICE Field Offices.
These 5 field offices account for 45% of all ATD enrollees nationwide.
ICE is currently requiring over 150,000 people to use the SmartLINK phone app to send ICE their GPS data and other information during telephonic “check-ins.” Nearly half of all migrants using SmartLINK are under the jurisdiction of just five ICE Field Offices as of Sept. 2024 (the same five offices that also have enrolled the greatest number of immigrants in ATD programs).
These 5 field offices account for appx. 46% of all total SmartLINK users.
As of Sept. 2024, six ICE Field Offices are each requiring more than 1,000 ATD enrollees to wear GPS ankle monitors. The Chicago Field Office stands out for its disproportionate use of ankle monitors, at a rate of more than four times the national average.
These 6 cities account for appx. 53% of all people on ICE ankle monitors nationally.
Recently, ICE began requiring certain ATD enrollees to wear wrist-worn GPS monitors. Four ICE Field Offices are far above the national average in the use of these new devices.
These 4 cities account for appx. 39% of all ICE wrist-worn GPS devices nationwide.
In part because of the use of invasive and harmful GPS monitoring technology, ICE’s ATD programs are not really “alternatives to detention,” but are instead alternative forms of detention. True alternatives to detention would take the form of community-based case management programs, which help ensure access to legal counsel and to social services that in turn help migrants successfully navigate their immigration processes.