Avoiding Jail, Saving Money: Using GPS Trackers for Illegal Immigrants
10 Feb 2015Some of the illegal immigrants caught crossing the border from Mexico into the United States are avoiding jail time by being outfitted with GPS trackers by the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS.
Outfitting them with ankle monitors costs the government $3.50 a day for each person, with an enrollment fee of $19.50. Jail costs about $119 a day.
The program, still in the beginning stages, is named RGV 250. Since December, the program has started monitoring heads of families who were caught entering via the Rio Grande Valley illegally. The pilot project will eventually be tracking 250 in this testing phase.
Each person was fitted with an ankle bracelet and given a notice of summons to report back. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is recording how soon detainees respond to a summons. If the program proves successful, the goal is to expand the program to 29,000 by the end of 2015.
Last year over 68,000 immigrants were caught by the Border Patrol entering the country illegally. Over 60,000 of them were from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, which are too far away to make it practical to send the detainees back quickly. Each immigrant was given a notice to report when summoned, and if appropriate, enrollment in a monitoring program called Alternatives to Detention.
A recurring problem in these cases, according to DHS, is that as a rule over 70% don’t report to immigration offices when summoned after they have been released. In response the government has opened what is termed “family jail” by overhauling a training academy in New Mexico and a men’s prison in Texas. Negative press followed the opening of these family prisons, which house mostly women with children. Immigration advocates are highly critical of the jails, both for putting mothers and children in them and for the bad conditions of the buildings.
The pilot program keeps families together and out of jail. Each person is screened by ICE to make sure he isn’t a threat to public safety. Only those deemed safe are eligible for the GPS tracking program. When the person reports back when summoned, the ankle device will be removed and he will have free range of motion.
More than 429,000 cases are pending in immigration court. Each case can take years to be processed. Thousands of people that are involved in these cases are being monitored by ICE. Another method used for reporting in during the long wait is using the phone for check in. It is hoped the ankle device will improve the rate of response to summons and help the government keep track of immigrants.
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