Just one more pain and expense for migrants documented and undocumented face now under ICE. The goal is to make it so horrible that they will agree to self deport. Such hatred for another people simply due to skin color and language / accent is so foreign / alien to me that it seems like something out of reality. And who pays for these monitors? The immigrant who cannot afford it or the US tax payer. If the taxpayer meaning the government is paying for the costs is this just a way to enrich a private company on the taxpayers backs / dime. Yet all reports are that this is driven by Stephen Miller who is so shrill and over the top demanding that he put one commander in the hospital three times with his harassment and demands, and he is said to have driven ICE to attack protestors claiming that the public would be on the side of ICE if they could show that the protestors were dangerous thugs. Hugs
Agency uses devices, which are uncomfortable and interfere with employment, to push people to self-deport, advocates say
Critics say that ankle monitors impose psychological, economic and physical harms on the people required to wear them. Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images
For five years, an asylum-seeking woman attended routine check-ins with immigration authorities without issue. At her most recent appointment in October, she was unexpectedly ordered to strap on an ankle monitor, according to her attorney, Deepa Bijpuria.
Bijpuria, a supervising attorney in the immigration unit of Legal Aid DC, described the client as a single mom who fled her home country because of severe domestic violence, escaping while pregnant with her young daughter.
“[The order] was just such a shift after she’d been complying for years while waiting for her asylum application to be heard and decided,” she said.
Bijpuria said the working mom, who declined an interview and requested anonymity due to her vulnerable situation, lost at least one job after receiving the ankle monitor.
Bijpuria’s client is not the only immigrant to be blindsided by ankle monitor requirements. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) uses electronic monitoring through its Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program, which was formally implemented in 2004 to ensure that immigrants comply with legal obligations while their cases proceed without being placed in detention.
ATD compliance methods also include mobile apps and telephone check-ins. But Evan Benz, a senior attorney at the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, said there had been a “marked shift” towards utilizing ankle monitors following a June 2025 internal ICE memo directing officers to place the devices on anyone enrolled in the ATD program.
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The number of people in the ATD program with ankle monitors nearly doubled in subsequent months, even as overall enrollment in the program remained stable. The total grew from about 24,000 at the time of the memo, a figure reported by the Washington Post, to roughly 42,000 last month, according to a February fiscal year 2026 ICE report.
The increase has not been evenly distributed across the country. The February ICE report revealed that enforcement varies by region, with the DC area having the highest number of people required to wear ankle monitors in the country.
“If you’re in the area of the Washington DC field office, which covers Virginia and the city of Washington DC, then you’re drastically more likely to be subjected to ankle monitoring,” Benz said. “But it’s not really clear exactly what the reason is for regional variation.”
In an email to the Guardian, an ICE spokesperson said that the ATD program used “individualized determinations” to tailor supervision levels on a case-by-case basis, allowing ICE to escalate or de-escalate oversight as needed. The spokesperson added that decisions were based on criminal history, compliance record and “any other relevant factors” when determining whether to keep someone in detention during ongoing proceedings.
Bijpuria said uneven enforcement highlighted the “arbitrary” nature of ankle monitor assignments, recalling many clients who were fitted with the devices despite having complied with their legal obligations. The cases, she said, raise questions about whether ensuring compliance is truly the goal behind the monitoring.
These concerns are reinforced by a 2021 study conducted by the Cardozo School of Law, which found that ankle monitors do not necessarily improve compliance and may even be counterproductive. The report found that 98% of immigrants released without electronic ankle monitors attended all court hearings and ICE check-ins, compared with 93% of those required to wear the devices.
Legal experts say uncertainty about the motives behind ankle monitor orders is exacerbated by limited transparency from federal authorities. ICE’s internal memo was never released publicly, prompting the Amica Center to file a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
Benz said ICE initially responded to the lawsuit by saying it would publish the memo on its website. The agency later said it could not do so at the time because of the ongoing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown.
“We’ve seen that ICE is not an agency that cares very much about transparency in its dealings with immigrants, or really the public at large,” Benz said.
Julia Decker, policy director at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, said the lack of transparency reflected a strategy of “intentional chaos”, in which creating uncertainty and anxiety in immigrant communities was “part of the plan”.
Decker raised concerns that the use of ankle monitors and the broader ATD program could become another way to “force” immigrants into a mistake that would push them into detention.
“I think that it’s very, very likely that any program like this becomes a way to funnel you right back into the very system that it was supposed to be an alternative to,” she said. “Particularly with an administration like this one that has been very public with its statements about wanting to arrest and deport as many [people as possible].”
Benz echoed Decker’s concerns, calling the ATD program an “alternative form of detention” rather than a true alternative to detention.
“We’ve seen a number of cases where ICE has used the ankle monitor to track down someone at home,” he said. “Sometimes there has been a ruse of ‘Hey, can you come outside? We got an alert. There’s something wrong with your ankle monitor, and we just need to check it out.’ And then that person is actually detained by ICE.”
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Beyond increasing the risk of detention, ankle monitors impose psychological, economic and physical harms on the people required to wear them, experts said.
“There are very onerous conditions of supervision, like curfews, home inspections and restrictions on where you can travel,” Benz said. “All of these combined can take a great toll on an individual on a psychological level. They don’t feel free. They feel as if they’re being watched, and they are also having their liberty, their freedom of movement, actually physically restrained.”
He noted that people wearing ankle monitors were more likely to lose their jobs, as the devices are often associated with the criminal legal system and can make those who wear them appear suspicious to employers.
Bijpuria emphasized the physical discomfort of ankle monitors. “Besides the psychological trauma, shame and disruption, it’s difficult to sleep.”
She added that the combination of deportation threats and the various harms of ankle monitors appeared designed to pressure people into self-deportation. Last year, the then DHS secretary, Kristi Noem, announced a nationwide, multimillion-dollar campaign that offered incentives for self-deportation, including up to $1,000 in financial assistance and free travel.
“We’ve seen people who’ve been detained or put on ankle monitoring who have options but, because of the conditions that they’re subjected to, ultimately decide to self-deport,” Bijpuria said. “You also have to remember there are private companies involved, and there is someone who’s making money from all this. They don’t have enough capacity for detaining everyone, so this is an alternative still getting you in that pipeline to ultimate removal.”
Amid the shifting landscape of immigration policies, a continuing DHS shutdown and leadership changes, Benz stressed the importance of submitting a written request to ICE for removal or avoidance of the device, supported by medical documentation demonstrating its negative impacts. Benz pointed to guides for attorneys representing clients in the ATD program and people navigating the process without legal representation.
“I think that [ankle monitoring and the ATD program] have flown under the radar in part because there are so many awful things that this agency is doing every day in terms of ripping people away from their families and their communities,” Benz said. “But the use of ankle monitors by ICE is a very harmful phenomenon.”
I would rather have the undocumented workers live in my neighborhood than the greedy scheming homeowner who used these men for their skills and then not only stole their hard earned agreed to payment but also screwed them into what is basically a prison awaiting deportation to a place they may have no connection with. Ask yourself which party is the more moral and just? I read that the homeowner gave ICE the ladder to get to the men. This is slave labor and the reason why big companies use undocumented workers, they can hold their status over them to abuse them. Hugs
The moment in Cambridge was captured on video and shared on social media by a co-worker identified as Bryan Polanco.
“Seeing it is not the same as experiencing it,” Polanco could be heard saying in Spanish in the video reviewed by Newsweek. “I’ve seen many videos, and sadly today I had to experience it.”
A spokesperson for ICE told Newsweek, “This was a targeted enforcement operation, not a tip from a caller. On March 23, ICE conducted targeted enforcement operations near Cambridge, Maryland, resulting in the arrest of six illegal aliens. Of those arrested, several have final orders of removal—a felony—and one has been previously convicted of illegal reentry. During the encounter, the aliens refused to comply with lawful orders, taunted officers and attempted to flee. The illegal aliens ultimately complied and were taken into custody.
Newsweek reached out to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the construction company believed to have employed the workers, the reported homeowner, and Polanco for comment on Thursday afternoon.
Immigrants without legal status are known to work in key industries, including construction, and advocates have raised concerns multiple times that they would be targets for ICE, despite largely lacking criminal histories.
Stills from a video shared on social media of ICE agents arresting Guatemalan construction workers in Cambridge, Maryland, on March 23, 2026. | Instagram/@elsalvadordeantes
What To Know
The video was originally shared to Instagram as a 30-minute livestream before appearing as an edited clip on X on Wednesday afternoon.
In the footage, which begins on the roof of the property, federal agents could be seen on the lawn waiting for workers to get down. A ladder is brought, the workers get to the ground and ICE officers begin making arrests.
Polanco, the man believed to be filming and narrating the incident, is heard saying they are surrounded and telling agents he is filming, which he is entitled to do. He told agents that he was cooperating and asked why they were there.
Agents were then seen holding a group of workers on a mat on the ground before taking them away while the construction materials were left behind.
The woman was reported to owe the workers $10,000 for a three-day job, according to Univision, a local TV network. If that is proved to be true, she could potentially face charges under Maryland law, which includes a clause on a person not being able to obtain labor from another person if their consent is induced with the threat or wrongful use of notifying law enforcement of the worker’s undocumented or illegal immigration status. This also applies to withholding wages.
The outlet reported that the men were Guatemalan nationals and had traveled from Glen Burnie to start the project. Polanco told Univision that the woman said that if immigrants came back to finish the job, she would call ICE again.
Newsweek has not yet been able to identify the immigrants arrested or confirm their immigration status.
What People Are Saying
Bryan Polanco told Univision: “Very sad about the situation…many Hispanics here in the United States have felt like they were being persecuted. We left home and we don’t know if we are going to return.”
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, on X: “Very serious and disturbing allegation about a homeowner calling ICE on people working on her roof to avoid having to pay them. While the facts aren’t fully in yet, if the allegation is true it seems that this would be a felony under Maryland law.”
What Happens Next
DHS is yet to provide details on those arrested. Some social media users reacting to the video said the homeowner could face charges if she employed immigrants to carry out work, knowing she would call law enforcement on them.
Update, 03/27/26, 11:57 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from ICE.
In February 2026, a rumor spread that Bo French, a Republican candidate for the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas, wanted to deport Native Americans — people indigenous to the U.S. Several social media posts made the claim, including on Facebook, where one user said French had called for the deportation of “third world savages” including Native Americans.
Some posts linked to a Feb. 10, 2026, article in Texas Monthly, which included a line that read, “One of French’s favorite phrases is ‘third world savages’—which he has applied to Afghan asylum seekers, Muslims, and even Native Americans, who he also wants deported.” It is true that French called for the deportation of Native Americans. He did so in an Oct. 10, 2025, post on X.
Read the full article. French, who is allied with two far-right Christian nationalist fracking billionaire pastors, last appeared here in November 2024 when he declared that Democrats are “retarded unmanly homos.” He appeared here in September 2024 when he lost a court battle to ban early voting on college campuses.
A former instructor for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday accused the agency of dramatically slashing training standards for new officers and lying to Congress about it as the Trump administration seeks to rapidly expand its mass deportation operation.
Ryan Schwank, who resigned from his job at an ICE academy in Georgia last week, told congressional Democrats at a hearing that the agency eliminated 240 hours of “vital classes” from a mandatory 580-hour training program, including instruction about the legal boundaries for the use of force, how to safely handle firearms, and the proper way to detain and arrest immigrants.
“Law enforcement is a deadly serious biz. It is not a place for shortcuts,” Schwank said. “Deficient training can and will get people killed. … ICE is lying to Congress and the American people about the steps it is taking to ensure that 12,000 officers can faithfully uphold the Constitution and perform their jobs.”
Ryan Schwank, a former ICE academy instructor, testified in front of Congress today about constitutional violations.“At the academy, we took out the class that tells the officers that they have an oath to the Constitution.”
Former ICE agent: My first day training new cadets, I received secretive orders to teach them to violate the Constitution by entering homes without a warrant. I watched ICE cut classes that teach our legal system, firearms training, use of force, lawful arrests, and the limits of officers' authority
Former ICE trainer Ryan Schwank is telling Congress that agents are being trained to ignore the Constitution. "I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution when I joined ICE. I followed it when I resigned. The legally required training program at the ICE academy is deficient, defective, and broken."
Director Lyons looked me in the eyes and said ICE was receiving proper training.Now a whistleblower says officials are lying about how much training new recruits actually get.They’re cutting corners and covering up. We need real answers and accountability. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-whi…
This person Same is interviewing is from the Cato Institute. Sam and David talk about the bigotry and attempt to purify the country of non-white people. tRump and his racist administration claim to want to remove 100 million from the US. There is no where near that number of undocumented people in the country. That number is almost 1/3 of the US population. Undocumented immigrants were estimated at 14 million in 2023 at the highest. So where are the rest of these people coming from? Legal documented immigrants and non-white citizens born in the US. That is why they are rounding up brown people who immigrated here legally and why they are trying so hard to end birth right citizenship. The goal has become clear and it is scary to me. To cement the white majority for as long as possible and stop the slow decline of the white majority / rize of minority demographics. Stephen Miller and the other racists in tRump administration want an apartheid state like the former South African one was. They want no rights for non-whites. They want no non-whites in positions of authority. The administration is going after businesses and higher education for not prioritizing whites over any other group. They feel no white male is less qualified than any non-white. If a non-white person scored 95 and the white person scored 75, these racists feel the white person is still more qualified because of their skin color. The racists feel the only DEI that should be allowed is the promotion of white males over everyone else. Hugs
As Belle says tRump started a war and is blocking the funding for the very department in charged with securing the country against foreign threats until the all important trans people playing sports are banned. tRump is putting paid unmasked ICE agents in airports so why can’t they go unmasked on the streets of our towns and cities to stand around watching TSA agents work for free all because his feelings are hurt by trans people. She said something similar about FEMA but it all comes down to tRump using the scape goat of trans people and the Christian nationalists need to have a white male straight cis nation to live in even though those people are not representative of most of the nation nor of all Christians. But to not fund FEMA during horrific flooding and wildfires, to not fund DHS and TSA for security, to not fund the coast guard for our protection and assistance in local waters, and more just because he has a hard time understanding the truth that trans people exist and are normal members of society that deserve full unconditional civil rights and equality. Hugs
Someone should tattoo ‘E Pluribus Unum’ across his forehead.
Ogles is from Kentucky. They have a .4% Muslim population. Roughly 18,000 people.
This dickbag is trying to pick on a marginalized community because HE HAS NOTHING ELSE TO TALK ABOUT. He protects pedophiles and explodes the deficit. He delivered nothing to his constituents and will die a thousand cowardly deaths for enabling Dementia Donnie.
“I searched ‘funny cat videos,’ but things are so bad that they’re all making serious ones.”
Punish the rich? They have been underpaying their taxes for decades.
Also, at 70, they likely have no income from a job, but are managing their wealth. Capital gains tax rate is 15% up to $600,000, and 20% for over $600,000.
“I thought I’d walk to work because the weather is nice, and because I abandoned my car at the gas station when I saw the prices.”
A reminder that Jared Kushner could not pass a top security clearance when he worked with his father-in-law in the White House.
He now is a shadow negotiator with Russia and Israel.
Trump told his Republican henchmen when he was going to attack Iran. The day before the war started they all invested in defense stocks and made a fortune.
Critics say that ankle monitors impose psychological, economic and physical harms on the people required to wear them. Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images
Scottie's Playtime 