EL PASO — Immigrants held in the ICE detention center in this border city are now required to wear tracking devices, expanding the use of an enforcement tool usually limited to people who have been released pending court dates.
Critics question the need to track people who are already locked up.
“It doesn’t make sense,” said Linda Rivas, managing attorney at the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center. “It seems like a waste of resources.”
Until now, the monitoring devices were limited to “low risk” immigrants as a condition of their release from detention to ensure they showed up for immigration court dates under the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, or ISAP.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement credits the program for saving money because it costs more to detain people than release and monitor them. The federal government spends nearly $122 daily per person in an immigration detention center and about $4.50 daily on alternatives to detention, according to Department of Homeland Security figures provided to Congress to support the 2018 budget.
The El Paso detention center, which houses about 900 people daily, began using radio-frequency identification, or RFID, technology to track detainees in April. Immigrants wear either an ankle or wrist bracelet.
“The purpose of the devices is to monitor the location and movement of the detainees to increase accountability and ensure their safety,” said ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa.
According to ICE, the agency did not incur additional costs to implement the monitoring program, but it did not provide specific details about the exact amount spent for the devices or to install the RFID system in the detention center.
ICE proposes a budget increase of $57.4 million to expand the alternative to detention program from 53,000 immigrants to 79,000 people. The agency is spending $62.1 million in the 2017 fiscal year on the external monitoring program.
El Paso is the only place tracking immigrants inside a detention center.
According to ICE, another facility that used the technology previously ran into technical issues that could not be resolved efficiently, and there are no immediate plans to expand the use of tracking devices in immigration detention centers.
George Drake, president of Correct Tech, a consulting company that specializes in offender tracking systems, said keeping closer tabs on people in custody is a growing trend.
“I really think it’s a wise idea," Drake said. "You’ll be able to tell instantly where every inmate is within the facility and keep track of a record of their attendance at certain offerings that the institution provides."
He said the tracking devices provide additional security for those in custody. “If there’s an incident within a facility, say a fight breaks out, and you wanted to sort out who was in that cell block or particular room, you’d have a record of who was there,” Drake said.
Others question the need for that level of monitoring of people detained for immigration violations.
“It feels like more and more we have the semblance of maximum-security prison for immigrant detainees, which really goes against what immigration detention is all about,” Rivas said.
Bertha Lidia Aria, 62, is among the detainees required to wear a tracking device. Aria was detained after she asked for asylum for her 15-year-old daughter and her at an international bridge in El Paso in November.
“She was trying to save her granddaughter,” said Eduardo Beckett, Aria’s attorney.
He said she fled because the MS-13 gang wanted the teen to have a “forced relationship” with a member in Honduras. When she tried to protect the girl, the gang threatened to kill Aria and burn down their home, he said.
Her granddaughter was released and is living with her mother in Houston, but Aria remains in the detention center in El Paso. Her lawyer said she has health problems and has complained the tracking device is uncomfortable.
Kimberly Espinoza Flores, 22, another woman in the detention center, used the Spanish term for shackles, “grillete,” to describe the ankle monitoring device to the nonprofit group providing her with legal assistance.
Espinoza Flores, who arrived on the Texas-Mexico border five months ago, said she was fleeing a violent gang member in Honduras who threatened to “make her disappear.” On Thursday, an immigration judge granted her parole while her claim for asylum is decided by the immigration court.
Espinoza Flores is no longer wearing an ankle tracking device. At least for now, it is not required as a condition for her release.
