<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4519090> NPR : Legal Affairs Electronic Anklets Track Asylum Seekers in U.S. by Daniel Zwerdling Audio for this story will be available at approx. 10:00 a.m. ET Morning Edition, March 2, 2005 7 The Department of Homeland Security is experimenting with a controversial new method to keep better track of immigrants awaiting appeals on their applications to remain in the United States. It is requiring aliens in eight cities to wear electronic monitors 24 hours a day. The ankle bracelets are the same monitors that some rapists and other convicted criminals have to wear on parole. But the government's pilot project is putting monitors on aliens who have never been accused of a crime. So far, the Department of Homeland Security has put electronic monitors on more than 1,700 immigrants. Victor Cerda, director of Detention and Removal Operations at Homeland Security, says the anklets will help prevent tens of thousands of immigrants who are ordered to leave the country each year from "absconding" -- going into hiding to avoid deportation. But critics say Cerda and other Homeland Security officials have exaggerated the extent of the problem. They point to a Justice Department study that put much of the blame on immigration officials, saying they'd failed to keep adequate records to track illegal aliens. Another Take on Ankle Monitors Sarah Barry fled Liberia's civil war in the early 1990s. She's now awaiting a decision on her appeal of a government deportation order. Barry says she's glad to be able to wear an ankle monitor. Hear why: Hear Sarah Barry Alternatives to Anklets A three-year pilot program in New York City tested how supervision affected immigrants' rates of appearance in court and compliance with court rulings. The program found that supervision -- regular phone calls from program workers, reminders about court dates, referrals to legal representatives and other such measures -- is more cost effective than detention and almost doubles the rate of compliance. Read the Vera Institute of Justice Report on Community Supervision Related NPR Stories Feb. 9, 2005 Panel: U.S. Mistreats Asylum Seekers Nov. 23, 2004 Special Report: Jailed Immigrants Allege Abuse E-mail this Page archives transcripts stations shop about help Copyright 2005 NPR Terms of Use Permissions Privacy Policy More Legal Affairs Supreme Court Ends Death Penalty for Juveniles Federal Judge's Husband, Mother Murdered More ; More Politics & Society Supreme Court Ends Death Penalty for Juveniles Vermont State Official Asks Tough Questions on Iraq More ; More By Daniel Zwerdling Hudson Jail Disciplines Guards in Detainee Abuse Case Letters: Detainee Abuses, Cronkite on the Mike Todd Party More ; find your local member station: (or enter zip code) News Politics & Society Business People & Places Health & Science Books Music Arts & Culture Diversions Opinion Morning Edition All Things Considered Day to Day Talk of the Nation Fresh Air News & Notes with Ed Gordon Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Performance Today Motley Fool Radio More Programs Hourly Newscast Program Stream24-Hour schedule Audio Help Contact NPR Sponsor NPR Press Room Submit Ideas Corrections Ombudsman Get NPR Headlines via RSS Text-only -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'