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| Immigration officials using more ankle monitors, even on non-criminals |
| By wfaa.com - DAVID SCHECHTER |
| Published: 05/11/2012 |
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DALLAS - There are things Alex Rodriguez is proud of, like his young family. There are other things he's ashamed of, like the ankle monitor he wears 24 hours a day, put on by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "People think, you know, I am a bad person,” he said. Six years ago, Rodriguez, from Honduras, entered the U.S. illegally. Two years ago, he was arrested in Farmers Branch for shoplifting a pair of $20 sunglasses. It is a misdemeanor crime. He said he forgot they were still on his forehead. “I forget my glasses because I did wrong," Rodriguez said, pointing to his forehead. "Put my glasses on here.” Since then, he married Maira, a U.S. citizen. Last month, the government issued him an immigrant Visa, creating a pathway to permanent residency in this country. "Why would he escape?" Maira Rodriguez asked. "It doesn't make any sense." Still, Rodriguez wears an ankle monitor that virtually controls his life. “Too much, I think it's too much,” Rodriguez said. “It's a lot. Don't you think it's crazy?” Ankle monitors were designed to shift criminals out of over-crowded jails. Immigration lawyers told News 8 in the last eight months, ICE has been installing ankle monitors on people who are not criminals, have little incentive to run away and have a clear path to citizenship in the U.S. Immigration reform advocate Ralph Isenberg is suing ICE, demanding reasonable standards for those who get an ankle monitor. "The money that we are spending on wasted ankle monitors on non-criminals, we could be hiring hundreds of how many new ICE agents to go after these criminals that we really need to get,” Isenberg said. The program is run by a private contractor, called BI Incorporated. Over five years, the U.S. government will pay BI $372 million to operate ICE's ankle monitor program. The company declined to comment for this story. Read More. |
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