Asylum is a human right, and we have an obligation to respect that right under international law. Immigrant New Yorkers should not be placed under indefinite electronic surveillance without explanation as they follow the immigration process. Our new neighbors deserve dignity and respect, not dehumanizing surveillance tactics.
Jodi Ziesemer, Policy Director of Immigration Emergency Response in NYLAG’s Immigrant Protection Unit, spoke with Documented about the troubling increase in the use of electronic surveillance on immigrants in New York and across the country:
“Unfortunately, ICE ramping up surveillance and monitoring of immigrants is a nationwide trend and there are very little protections or limits to any of these practices,” said Jodi Ziesemer, co-director of the Immigrant Protection Unit at the New York Legal Assistance Group.
[…]
Ziesemer noted that race and gender disparities also shape the enforcement. “Men are much more likely to be taken into custody than women. Indigenous and Black immigrants are far more likely to have a higher level of surveillance than non-BIPOC immigrants,” she said.
[…]
“Private companies that provide the GPS ankle monitors and other surveillance technology just received lucrative government contracts,” Ziesemer said.
Read the full story, originally published in Documented on Oct. 14, 2025.
