The Impact of Ankle Monitors on Immigrants
By: Leila Paltrowitz
Part of the Trump administration's anti-immigrant methods of dealing with immigrants was the extensive use of inhumane detention centers. As Biden aims to shift towards a more immigration friendly state of the country and depart from the use of such detention centers, one of the prevailing alternatives is the increased reliance on technology based means of tracking immigrants until their court dates. While
seemingly an improvement from being detained in prison facilities, these technological means of monitoring take the form of ankle monitors that are detrimental to people’s health and freedom in ways not sufficiently dissimilar from the detention centers they are replacing.
The ankle monitor devices, billed as harmless by their manufacturers, are responsible for various mental and physical health issues for those wearing them. According to a recent study on the mental and physical repercussions of having to wear them, 90% of users experienced harm to their physical health including cramps, numbness, excessive heat generated by the battery, and swelling. Similarly concerning was the 88% of users with resulting mental health issues, depression, and trouble sleeping, 12% of whom contemplated suicide as a result of wearing the devices. Users described the nightmare of frequent malfunctions despite changing batteries every few hours. Additionally, the social isolation of wearing the monitors is problematic, as they act as a clear scarlet letter, denoting the wearer as someone who does not belong and must be monitored closely due to the supposed threat they pose. It is also very difficult for the immigrants wearing them to gain employment and carry out their jobs. Overall, the monitors are a disaster for those entering the country, leaving immigrants hopeless, broken, and unwelcome in their new country.
Even so, the Biden administration continues to view these alternatives to detention as acceptable means of handling immigrants. As Biden aims to quickly abandon Trump’s horrific immigration practices, he is relying on the Intensive Supervision Assistance Program (ISAP) as the solution to holding people in detention facilities. The administration has committed to increasing the funding for the ISAP and wants to increase its enrollment by 45,000 people this year. Yet the increased reliance on digital tracking technology, particularly the current practices of using ankle monitors, is not succeeding at creating a more humane, welcoming environment for immigrants, making it imperative to find a new solution.
Given that tracking immigrants appears to be a priority for the nation, there are several improved alternatives. Using a sleek fit bit type device in lieu of the heavy, uncomfortable, conspicuous ankle monitors, is a potential improvement that could provide the same degree of monitoring. Given the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on digital tracking methods for immigrants annually, there is plenty of funding for more humane technology. Even better than focussing on methods of tracking and detaining immigrants though, would be diverting focus and resources to assisting the immigrants who had just entered the country.
While the justification for using ankle monitors and the ISAP program is that it leads to higher appearance rates at court hearings, several studies have found that far more so than shackling people in this way, providing people with legal representation and assistance is most influential in increasing people’s rates of attending their court hearings. Additionally, community based programming operated by non-profits and with the best interests of the immigrants in mind, have also been shown to be both more effective and less costly than detention or methods of surveillance through ankle monitor devices. Overwhelmingly, both the data and the experiences of immigrants point to the need to phase out the ISAP program and disconnect alternatives to detention programs from ICE, who currently handles them. It remains to be seen whether the Biden administration will reassess its current practices and replace the ankle monitors that are so clearly harmful.
