Immigrants Complain about Wearing Ankle Monitors

For years, both authorized and unauthorized immigrants have come to America, and they will continue to come. Those who entered the U.S. illegally are usually sent to immigration detention centers. As a result of pressure from detention opponents and changes in U.S. immigration policies, many undocumented immigrants recently have been released.  Many former detainees are not completely free; they are required to wear electronic ankle monitors.

The ankle monitor requirement is a part of the federal government’s response to the wave of numerous immigrant families and children entering the U.S. in the past year.  Many former detainees end up in immigration detention centers, and the government argues that ankle monitors are an inexpensive and effective means to ensure that released detainees show up in court. Ankle monitors cost about five dollars per person per day. Conversely, placing immigrants in detention centers cost $130 per person per day. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of the ankle monitors is not known.

Government officials say that whether they use the ankle monitors depends on the person and circumstances. They place ankle monitors on immigrants with serious criminal histories and with the potential to threaten public safety. Conversely, they use different supervision methods for immigrants without serious criminal histories. Moreover, they state that they do not place ankle monitors on immigrants who are younger than eighteen years old, are pregnant, or have serious health conditions.

Immigrants and immigrant advocates disagree. Immigrants who wear ankle monitors consider them uncomfortable shackles and feel like criminals because of the devices’ negative connotation. Similarly, immigrant advocates assert that the devices paint asylum applicants as criminals, and research indicates that ankle monitor wearers feel alienated from the American legal and judicial systems.

In addition, immigrants assert that officials coerce them into wearing the ankle monitors. Immigrant advocates claim that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers called roughly 100 women immigrant detainees to court and encouraged the women to sign release papers with the ankle monitor requirement included. Many of the women’s affidavits support this point. For example, a woman said she signed the papers because she was desperate to be released in order to see her sick son.

Moreover, immigrants who wear ankle monitors are frustrated that the devices require multiple recharges and that the devices’ short cords “leave them tethered to outlets.” Officials say that the ankle monitors require two hours to charge. Cellphones requiring two hours to charge is fine, although perhaps inconvenient, but you do not have to be next to your phone to wait for it to charge. Nevertheless, ankle monitor wearers have to stay next to the outlet as they wait for their monitors to charge. Having to stay next to an outlet limits and restricts your range of motion, and having to stay next to an outlet for two hours seems burdensome and unnecessary.

If you are an immigrant and you are in legal trouble, know this: You have rights and legal remedies. If you have questions about America’s immigration laws and policies, talk to a lawyer. For more information and to have questions answered, contact Nashville Attorney Perry A. Craft.