ICE’s SmartLINK app tracks migrants by the thousands. Does it work?

On an April day in 2022, a Venezuelan migrant It was located on the banks of the mighty Rio Grande. He could see his future directly in front of him as he cautiously entered the chains. With each step, his six-foot body began to disappear beneath the murky green water.

“The water was up to my neck,” he said. “I held my backpack over my head and my feet could barely touch the ground. … I was afraid I was going to be swept away. As soon as I saw the Border Patrol on the other side, I knew I had to get there.”

He heard horror stories about this dangerous leg of the journey. Last year, more than 700 migrants drowned while trying to cross the river, which winds nearly 3,000 kilometers along the southern US border. The Border Patrol arrested him in Del Rio, Texas. He was soaked and exhausted, but said he was finally able to exhale for the first time in three months.

After he was processed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agent handed him a smartphone. This would become his lifeline as he waited for an immigration court date on his asylum application. The phone came with an app called SmartLINK, which tracked his location using GPS data and confirmed his identity using facial recognition software. An ICE agent asked him to check in by taking a photo as confirmation every week.

“I had to carry my phone wherever I went,” he said. “When I took the photos, I had to be exactly where they wanted me to be. After me I would have big problems… With the phone, I felt like a fugitive, you see it on the news.

Transitioning from SmartLINK before going to immigration court

In 2018, ICE launched SmartLINK as part of its Alternatives to the detention program to monitor migrants, considered it “low risk” to the American public. The application, which costs $4 per migrant per day, is seen as an economic alternative to detention, which costs around $150 per migrant per day, according to the agency. The real difference in costs is difficult to estimate, as migrants are often monitored for longer than they are detained.

“It’s really an expansion of monitoring and surveillance of migrants,” said Austin Kocher, a research professor at the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, or TRAC, at Syracuse University. “Electronic monitoring really started in the criminal justice system. It was then adopted and adopted by ICE as part of their program.”

As of April 2024, ICE monitored 779,679 migrants through the application, according to data from the agency. Officials note that due to cost, migrants who complete ICE check-ins are often removed from the app after an average of 14 to 18 months. About that, immigration court proceedings it can last for years.

In his own report to Congress, ICE admitted that it will continue to have challenges reporting on the effectiveness of the application due to this gap in time, when migrants are removed from the application but their cases are not resolved.

Kocher, who has studied whether SmartLINK is effective, said the answer depends on the app’s intended purpose. If it’s to ensure migrants show up for court hearings, he said, most already want to do that.

“There is a tremendous incentive for them to follow all the rules and a tremendous disincentive for them to ignore the rules,” Kocher said. “Expanding access to legal representation and other types of legal support could serve the same purpose.”

According to TRAC, 99% of migrants who have lawyers meet their requirements. Migrants Those who are unable to check in or respond to ICE agents through SmartLINK are considered fugitives. These cases are then turned over to fugitive units for future law enforcement action.

Escape rates and effectiveness

ICE Assistant Director for Law Enforcement Removal Operations Tom Giles points to the migrant escape rate on SmartLINK as proof of the app’s effectiveness.

“Our leakage rate is below 10% this fiscal year,” Giles said. “Our non-detained population has grown by more than 200%, but we have not actually had the resources to effectively manage this in the way we would like. [SmartLINK]It’s been effective for us.”

CBS News asked ICE to provide the escape rate before SmartLINK to add perspective to the numbers. Spokespeople did not respond with information at the time of publishing this article.

“I just had my backpack full of dreams”

Two years after his journey from Venezuela, the 34-year-old migrant who spoke to CBS News now lives near the seat of American power: the US Capitol. While Congress debates the future of thousands of migrantshe has a message for the representatives who can probably decide yours.

“The solution is not to oppose immigration,” he said. “The solution is to create better laws to solve this problem before it gets worse.”

His asylum application was rejected. The next steps towards your “American dream” will be whether your application for Temporary Protected Status is approved. As opposed to being granted asylum, if you are granted TPS, you will need to re-register to maintain this status. TPS, however, does not lead to any legal permanent resident status. Meanwhile, he dreams of opening a restaurant, learning English, and ultimately calling Washington, D.C. his permanent home.

“There are a lot of immigrants who have hopes and dreams of coming to this country because they like this country,” he said. “They want to start a new life and for their children to grow up here. They want their children to have a wonderful future here.”