ICE's Immigrant Monitoring Program Expanding Rapidly, ATD Enrollment Grows to More Than 225,000 (*UPDATED!*)

Since the start of the Biden administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been using a new monitoring and surveillance smartphone app called SmartLINK to increase immigrant tracking at an alarming rate.

Using data out this week and announced on TRAC’s website here, more than 225,000 immigrants are enrolled in ICE’s ATD (alternatives to detention) program. All of the growth has taken place by using SmartLINK. GPS ankle monitors and telephonic reporting have declined in both total and relative numbers.

I continue to monitor this phenomenon closely because I think it represents such an important shift in the spatial technologies of immigrant control, and in doing so, I also want to push back against the discourse that because ATD monitoring isn’t detention, we, therefore, need to uncritically accept it.

UPDATE: ICE Adding 1,000 People Per Day to SmartLINK

After publishing this post earlier today, I began looking more closely at the ATD data for SmartLINK. I wanted to find a clear way to show how fast SmartLINK has been growing over time rather than just looking at total numbers. When I calculate the growth on a day-by-day basis, I found that in April, ICE has been adding more than 1,000 people per day to SmartLINK. I’m adding that finding here. (Edited 4/29/22).

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