ICE to test smartwatch-like tracking devices for migrants facing deportation

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CBS News

Washington — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Monday unveiled a smartwatch-like device to track migrants released from federal immigration custody, saying the technology could help the government monitor a small fraction of the millions of individuals with pending deportation cases.

The wrist monitor, which uses GPS technology, will be the latest device used by ICE to track migrants enrolled in the Alternatives to Detention program, an agency initiative that the Biden administration has vastly expanded to supervise migrants determined not to pose a risk to public safety or national security, such as asylum-seekers processed along the U.S.-Mexico border.

ICE has previously used ankle monitors, phone calls and a mobile app with face recognition technology to monitor those placed in the alternatives to detention program, which Biden administration officials have argued is a cheaper and more humane way to ensure migrants comply with their immigration proceedings than holding them in detention facilities.

More than 5 million migrants are facing deportation as part of ICE's non-detained docket of cases, which have ballooned under President Biden amid record apprehensions along the southern border. ICE, however, does not have the personnel or resources to detain or monitor all migrants with deportation cases. As of earlier this month, roughly 250,000 migrants were being monitored under the alternatives to detention initiative, while another 25,000 were detained in ICE's network of county jails and for-profit prisons, according to agency data.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-smartwatch-tracking-device-migrants-deportation/

[NullTuples]

1. It's not a home arrest ankle bracelet; it's a stylish and trendy Smart Watch!

If an immigration applicant wants to go through the process, they typically make sure they show up, yes?

Is the underlying idea that we as a nation don't trust that people immigrating actually want to be citizens and would rather be undocumented?

And if so, wouldn't the better solution be to police employers?

I'm trying to understand what our nation's intentions are, what our assumptions are about people from outside, and why...

[BumRushDaShow]

2. The "problem" revolves around the current immigration laws

which are very limited and generally have specific criteria and quotas for who can seek asylum.

Unless Congress passes some kind of comprehensive updates to the immigration laws (something that has been un-doable since Raygun approved congressional legislation allowing "amnesty" for those in the country at the time who were undocumented, then there will always be this game of cat and mouse.

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128303672

Immigration and immigrants have been a hot-button issue since the 1800s!