Ankle Shackles: “Alternatives to Detention” Immigration Enforcement Programs As Digital Surveillance Cages

“I felt like less of a person” says Sarah, a client from National Immigrant Justice Center about the pain she feels wearing an ankle monitor. Ankle shackles (‘ankle monitors’) are widely used as GPS tracking tools as part of the United States’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Alternatives to Detention (ATD) surveillance program. ATD operates using electronic ankle monitors, in-person check-ins, and home visits. ICE claims ATD is meant to reduce the number of people held in detention centers and be a 'more humane' path for immigrants registered with customs enforcement. However, these alternatives have proven to propel a different form of punitive, degrading policies such as informing structures of electronic-incarceration, increasing risk of actual deportation for immigrants, and expanding the number of people living under government surveillance. This study outlines how the ATD program operates as a part of a racialized architecture of social control and a mechanism for labeling, legitimating surveillance, and creating a state apparatus for tracking immigrants. Highlighting historical analysis of immigrant policy in the United States that led to ATD, I detail how the United States' laws and policies on immigration are rooted in white supremacy, structural exclusion, and control of borderlands to outline who is 'deserving' and 'undeserving' of rights. This study traces the history of the creation of ATD and rise of electronic-incarceration through reference to statistics on racialized surveillance and highlights in-depth case studies regarding people’s lived experiences with ankle monitors and associated mental and physical health risks, as well as ATDs heightened use since COVID-19. I end with a discussion of community demands for the abolition of immigrant detention/incarceration, showcasing the power of community resistance to state control and deportation regimes.