Haitians living in Ohio who’ve lost their protected status are increasingly getting ankle monitors instead of being detained by immigration officers, attorneys say.ICE has been alerting Haitians to appear in person at check-ins, where they are given ankle monitors to track their whereabouts until an immigration judge can decide whether they may have a legitimate reason to remain in the country, such as an asylum claim, according to the lawyers.The decision is often made over a lack of detention space for more than 300,000 Haitians who lost Temporary Protected Status after a Supreme Court decision in June, a senior Department of Homeland Security official said.“We were really worried that this was going to be a mass enforcement, mass detention operation,” said Katie Kersh, an immigration attorney who represents Haitian clients as part of her work at the Ohio-based law firm Advocates for Basic Legal Equality.
Instead, Kersh said, several of her clients recently received ICE letters mandating the in-person check-ins.“And so we went,” she said.
People were arrested but not detained for the long term.“They all have these ankle monitors and they’re not allowed to travel outside of a 75-mile radius from their home.”DHS declined to comment on the ankle monitors.
“DHS does not discuss ongoing or future operations,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement.“What we would say now is it’s closing time, which means you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.” It is the latest policy shift since DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin took over in March that could draw President Donald Trump’s ire.Last month, Mullin ran afoul of President Donald Trump when he announced a halt on vehicle pursuits by ICE after fatal shootings.
The ankle monitors and other trackers allow immigrants to continue to live in the U.S.while their cases play out.
The program was bolstered under the Biden administration but Trump’s immigration policy architect, St...