As deportations mount, KY immigrants now face GPS monitoring, surveillance
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- ICE expands GPS monitoring through program for immigrants under review
- BI Inc. increases in-person check-ins as GPS tracking becomes standard tool
- Advocates view surveillance as onerous but preferable to immigrant detention
Teresa nodded and gave a brief smile to the receptionist behind the Plexiglass barrier as she signed the sheet attached to a clipboard shortly after 8 a.m. on a recent weekday.
The Central Kentucky mother had been summoned to the drab, generic, white office building on South Third Street in Louisville by her caseworker for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Alternatives to Detention and Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, commonly called ATD-ISAP.
The agency monitors people who have pending immigration cases.
Teresa, who asked her last name not be used because she feared retribution from ICE officials, has a pending asylum case she hopes will one day make her a permanent resident. While her case is pending, she was placed in the Alternatives to Detention program.
She took a seat on one of the plastic chairs in the waiting room, staring at the door that led to the office where she had to speak to her case worker because of a problem, she had been told. One of her kids had played with a GPS device immigration officials have required her to wear.
The child accidentally took a photo that showed the floor of her home.
Although she sends daily photos of herself, another requirement of the program, her caseworker found the photo suspicious. She had an appointment to check in with the caseworker at 11:30 a.m. that day. Due to the photo, officials moved up her appointment to 8 a.m.
The change in the appointment time sounded ominous to Teresa.
She had seen the news reports of ICE agents arresting people in immigration court or after scheduled check-ins with the agency commonly known as ATD.
Would she be detained and forced to leave the country after years of waiting for her asylum case to work its way through the courts?
Could an errant photo taken by a toddler end her time in the United States?
“Is this it?” she asked herself.
ICE steps up GPS monitoring on thousands of immigrants
Prior to the November 2024 election of President Donald Trump, who has led a massive effort to clamp down on immigration and up deportations, Teresa said the ATD program required her to call her caseworker regularly.
It wasn’t a problem, she said. Teresa declined to tell the Herald-Leader what country she came from or how long her asylum case has been pending. She said she feared that information would identify her to authorities.
But earlier this year, the private company that oversees the ATD-ISAP program, BI Inc., stepped up its requirements for the ATD program.
Teresa was issued a GPS monitor, which tracks her movements, in late June. As part of the supervision program, Teresa and other immigrants are not allowed to travel more than 100 miles from their home without permission.
The in-person check ins with BI officials has also ramped up, she said through a translator.
Since January, she’s had at least eight office visits in Louisville — three in June and two in July as of July 24, she said.
On this day, she asked advocates to drive her to her Louisville appointment. Her husband has taken off work every time she is summoned to the BI office. With the change in her appointment times, she was forced to ask for a ride from strangers.
Escalating supervision levels through GPS ankle monitors
It’s not just Teresa who is now subject to increased monitoring.
Increased surveillance by ICE authorities and contractors is stepping up across the country.
A July 24 Washington Post story quoted a June 9 internal ICE memo that calls for a rapid increase in the number of people who must wear GPS monitors while in alternative detention.
“If the alien is not being arrested at the time of reporting, escalate their supervision level to GPS ankle monitors whenever possible and increase reporting requirements,” wrote Dawnisha Helland, an acting assistant director of ICE, in the June 9 memo, according to the Washington Post.
ICE officials did not return emails asking how many Kentucky immigrants must wear geolocation devices or how many were enrolled in the ATD program.
According to the ICE website, in October 2024, 179,000 people nationwide were in the ATD-ISAP program.
It’s not clear who is required to wear GPS monitoring.
Katie Taylor, a lawyer with the Kentucky-based Neighbors Clinic, a nonprofit that provides legal services to immigrants, said her clients with pending immigration cases have not been required to wear GPS monitoring devices.
Taylor said she is still able to check in for her clients with immigration authorities via email.
Taylor said although the GPS monitoring and increased in-person check-ins can be cumbersome and daunting, it’s better then the alternative.
“As much as it can be difficult, increased monitoring is an alternative to detention, which is what this administration is trying to do more broadly across the country,” Taylor said. “So, I think increased monitoring in Kentucky is still way better then detention without bond which is what many are facing, especially in other states.”
Waiting for judgment
As Teresa waited to be called, the receptionist in the Louisville waiting room of the BI office turned on the flat-screen TV mounted to a wall in the waiting area. A music channel appeared on the TV titled: “Relaxing morning vibes.” To the background of Yanni-like music, images of waterfalls, mountains and ambling, fluffy sheep appear on the screen.
Teresa and the advocates who came with her giggle nervously at the juxtaposition of “relaxing morning vibes” and the palpable anxiety in the waiting room.
Teresa was called by her caseworker around 8:35 a..m.
About 10 minutes later, Teresa emerged with a small, tight smile on her face.
She will not be detained.
“They saw the photo and just wanted to make sure that everything was OK,” she said.
