Immigrants object to growing use of ankle monitors after detention

Recent border-crossers say they’re increasingly being coerced into wearing ankle monitors even when the devices aren’t officially a condition of their release from detention. ------------ FOR THE RECORD: Ankle monitoring of immigrants: In the Aug. 2 Section A, an article about immigrants who are forced to wear electronic ankle monitors as a condition of their release from U.S. detention incorrectly referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Gillian Christensen as Gillian Anderson. Johnson told the House Judiciary Committee that ICE was “ramping up” its use of ankle monitors and intended to more than double the total number monitored, from 23,000 last year to 53,000 in 2016. Ankle monitors are not issued to those under 18, pregnant women or others with “significant medical issues.” ICE officials say ankle monitors are used “on a case-by-case basis with a priority for detention of serious criminal offenders and other individuals who pose a significant threat to public safety. In a motion also filed last week, they allege ICE officials recently summoned about 100 immigrant women in the detention center at Dilley to makeshift trailer courtrooms and urged them to sign paperwork to be released with ankle monitors in lieu of bond.