Immigration Electronic Monitoring: Alternatives to Detention for Government Agencies

The Case for Immigration Alternatives to Detention

Immigration detention is expensive. The US detained an average of 34,000 individuals per day in FY2023, at a cost of approximately $140-300/day per detainee depending on facility type. Annual detention costs exceed $3 billion. Meanwhile, the vast majority of immigration cases involve individuals who pose no threat to public safety — they are awaiting immigration court hearings that may be scheduled years into the future due to court backlogs exceeding 3 million cases.

Electronic monitoring offers a supervised release option: the individual lives in the community, works, and supports their family while the immigration court processes their case. A GPS ankle monitor or smartphone check-in app verifies their location and ensures compliance with court appearances. The cost savings are dramatic, and the compliance data shows that most participants appear for their hearings.

US Program: ICE Alternatives to Detention (ATD)

Program Structure

ICE operates the largest immigration EM program globally through its Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP), managed by contractor BI Incorporated. The program uses three supervision tiers:

Tier	Technology	Typical Population	Cost/Day
Tier 1: SmartLINK (app)	Smartphone check-in with facial recognition	Low flight risk; asylum seekers with community ties	$4-7
Tier 2: Telephonic	Scheduled phone reporting	Medium-low risk; stable address and employment	$2-5
Tier 3: GPS ankle monitor	Continuous GPS tracking with geofencing	Higher flight risk; prior absconders; criminal history	$8-15

Compliance Data

• Court appearance rate (GPS tier): 83-89% depending on study period and population
• Court appearance rate (SmartLINK app): 93-99% (higher because lower-risk population is selected for this tier)
• Absconding rate: 3-14% across all ATD tiers over case lifetime (compared to 11-43% for unsupervised released individuals)

International Immigration EM Programs

United Kingdom

The UK Home Office operates a GPS tagging program for foreign national offenders (FNOs) awaiting deportation and individuals released from immigration detention on bail. The program uses GPS ankle monitors with exclusion zones (typically around transportation hubs). The UK’s approach is notable for GDPR-compliant data handling requirements and specific provisions for vulnerability assessment before monitoring is imposed.

Australia

Australia’s Residence Determination (RD) program monitors individuals released from immigration detention centers using electronic monitoring. GPS ankle monitors track compliance with curfew and location conditions. Australia’s program operates under strict privacy legislation and requires regular welfare checks in addition to electronic monitoring.

European Union

Belgium and the Netherlands operate immigration EM as explicit alternatives to detention. These programs typically use GPS ankle monitoring for individuals with deportation orders who are considered flight risks. EU programs must comply with both national privacy law and the European Convention on Human Rights, which imposes stricter proportionality requirements than US law.

Technology Selection for Immigration Programs

Unique Requirements

Immigration EM differs from criminal justice monitoring in several key ways:

Factor	Criminal Justice EM	Immigration EM
Population	Convicted offenders or pretrial defendants	Civil immigration detainees (not criminals)
Duration	Defined by sentence or case resolution	Indefinite — cases may take 2-5 years
Language	Primarily English (US)	Multi-language support essential (Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese, etc.)
Device comfort priority	Standard	Higher — monitored individuals are not convicted of crimes
Legal standard	Criminal supervision conditions	Civil liberty restrictions — higher proportionality bar
Scale	Typically county/state level	National programs with nationwide coverage

Tiered Technology Approach

• Tier 1 — Smartphone app: The CO-EYE AMClient provides scheduled check-ins with photo verification and background GPS tracking. Multi-language interface support. Cost: $1-5/day. Appropriate for 60-70% of immigration monitoring cases.
• Tier 2 — Wristband + app: The CO-EYE Wristband paired with the smartphone app adds BLE proximity verification — confirming the individual is near their phone during location tracking. Less stigmatizing than an ankle monitor. Cost: $3-8/day.
• Tier 3 — GPS ankle monitor: The CO-EYE ONE provides continuous GPS tracking with optical fiber anti-tamper for individuals assessed as flight risks. Geofencing ensures compliance with residence and curfew conditions. Cost: $5-15/day.

Legal and Ethical Considerations

• Proportionality: Immigration monitoring is a civil, not criminal, restriction. The monitoring level must be proportional to the individual’s flight risk, not a blanket condition applied to all released individuals.
• Duration limits: Given the multi-year timeline of immigration cases, agencies should implement periodic review (every 90-180 days) of continued monitoring necessity.
• Language access: Device instructions, check-in prompts, and monitoring communications must be available in the individual’s language. Failure to provide language access is both a practical barrier to compliance and a potential legal vulnerability.
• Vulnerable populations: Monitoring conditions should be modified or waived for individuals with physical disabilities, serious mental health conditions, pregnant women, or other vulnerability factors that make device wear impractical.
• Data privacy: Location data collected through immigration monitoring should be governed by strict retention policies and not shared with law enforcement for unrelated purposes.

Program Design for New Immigration EM Programs

Phase 1: Pilot (6-12 months)

• Deploy 50-100 devices across tiers matched to risk assessment
• Test multi-language support with actual participants
• Establish compliance metrics and court appearance tracking
• Train monitoring staff on immigration-specific protocols

Phase 2: Scale (12-24 months)

• Expand based on pilot compliance data
• Integrate with case management systems
• Develop step-down protocols (GPS → wristband → app → unsupervised)
• Establish cost-per-case tracking for budget justification

About CO-EYE by REFINE Technologies

REFINE Technologies offers a tiered product portfolio suited for immigration monitoring programs: AMClient smartphone app for large-scale low-risk monitoring, Wristband BLE tether for mid-tier supervision, and CO-EYE ONE/DUO GPS ankle monitors for high-risk cases. Multi-language monitoring software and quad-constellation GNSS support international deployments. Contact us for immigration program proposals.