“ICE Digital Prisons,” a new report by immigration rights groups Mijente and Just Futures Law, highlights how the U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s (ICE) Alternatives to Detention (ATD) surveillance programme amounts to a “digital prison”. The programme uses ankle monitors, voice recognition, and facial recognition applications to monitor more than 96,000 immigrants in the U.S. The report states that these alternatives to detention are harmful as they “inhibit any true progress in providing the social and economic tools for immigrants to thrive in their communities”.

The report calls upon the Biden administration to put an end to immigration detention, including an end to “any and all programmes that treat immigrants as security threats and subjects of surveillance”.

ALTERNATIVE DETENTION METHODS

The Biden Administration has been under renewed pressure to direct funds towards alternative detention methods. A focus on tracking rather than detaining immigrants has seen a growth in the ATD program funding, from $28 million in 2006 to $440 million in 2021. The 2022 budget further expands the programme, which will increase the number of people who are subjected to digital surveillance from over 96,000 to 140,000.

However, the report stresses that the ATD programme “does not actually reduce the number of individuals who are detained in ICE’s custody”. While the ATD budget increased, so too did the detention budget, from $1 billion in 2006 to $2.8 billion in 2021. Note also that these digital surveillance methods are operated by private companies, “with the purpose of extending incarceration beyond the walls of detention centres”.

THE “DIGITAL PRISONS”

Within the ATD programme, ICE’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) includes a variety of invasive surveillance methods. The most prevalent form of surveillance is GPS tracking, achieved through the use of ankle monitors. The monitors allow ICE to request an “immediate and accurate one-time location fix in real time”. The report highlights how the ankle monitors “cause physical and emotional harm” due to the “deeply stigmatising” nature of the device.

Immigrants are also subjected to home and office visits. And whilst office visits are scheduled, home visits take place unannounced. The visits involve an ICE officer scanning an individual’s ID card with a device that records GPS. The ICE officer conducts surveillance in the home to “look for evidence of possible flight risk” and to document “criminal activity associated with the participant, property, or neighbourhood”.

The programme also utilises the SmartLINK mobile app for facial recognition reporting. In the app, the user must check-in by uploading a selfie, which is then matched to the photograph taken at enrolment in the program using facial recognition software. The app is also used for uploading photos of documents, request services, confirming appointments, and providing updates on court proceedings.

SmartLINK “raises a number of privacy and surveillance concerns”. This is because at the time of check-in, the app also gathers GPS points. Whilst ICE claims that “SmartLINK does not actively monitor the participant’s location through their cell phone as a GPS ankle monitor would,” the app is capable of doing so. The report further highlights that SmartLINK’s privacy policy indicates that the app “can share virtually any information collected through the application, even beyond the scope of the monitoring plan, with the supervising officer”.

In addition, the program uses voice recognition in order to monitor immigrants, where, upon check-in, individuals receive a notification call from VoiceID. Within a few minutes, the user must call VoiceID from an authorized number. Their voiceprint on this call is matched to the voiceprint from enrolment.

THE IMPACT

The Biden administration has argued that these alternatives are less harmful than physical detention, and “support migrants as they navigate their legal obligations”. Conversely, the report argues that the invasive surveillance methods that immigrants are subjected to further entrench the criminalisation of immigration, and affects an individual’s social and economic wellbeing. The report provides that ATD methods can “hinder access to legal resources, limit participation in caregiving, increase risk of domestic violence, negatively impact health, punish family members, and heighten racial disparities". The constant disruption in the daily lives of immigrants can also make it difficult for individuals to maintain employment, and can negatively affect their connection with the communities to which they belong.

These negative impacts are exacerbated by the length of time immigrants spend under surveillance. The average time an individual spends in the ISAP programme is a staggering 877.1 days, according to ICE’s recent statistics. In many cases, those in the ATD program actually end up in detention centres due to mistakes with the SmartLINK app and errors with the check-in function.

The report makes it clear that ICE’s ATD “solutions” do not work. Not only do these alternatives cause harm to immigrants, affecting their social and economic wellbeing, in some cases they also result in physical detention. In order for immigrants to live full lives, unhindered by the “digital prison” in which they are currently held, the Biden administration must put an end to the ISAP programme. Further, the report calls for policymakers to instead focus on solutions that put an end to all forms of immigrant surveillance and detention.

Shannon is an LLB Law with Politics graduate from Queen's University Belfast. Since graduating she has worked for Allen & Overy LLP, where she sits on the Pro Bono Committee. As the Project Coordinator for A&O's Pro Bono partnership with the AIRE Centre, she facilitates a letter writing initiative in order to promote awareness of legal rights and assist people in vulnerable circumstances to assert those rights.

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