Extended punishment: criminalising immigrants through surveillance technology

While the social costs of immigrant detention have been well-established, less is known about immigrants who continue to be monitored by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after their release from custody. Some immigrants are enrolled in Alternatives to Detention programmes and must wear an electronic monitor (EM). Drawing on 21 months of ethnographic observations, semi-structured interviews, and conversations with immigrants in Los Angeles who have been released from detention with an EM, this study examines how EM operates as a surveillance tool that influences the immigrant's relationship with the state, community, and self. Release from detention could conceivably provide an immigrant with the benefits of reintegration into a co-ethnic community. However, under surveillance, the immigrant loses access to co-ethnic social capital, as the state fractures their safety net. Thus, EM operates as a tool of legal violence, creating a new axis of stratification and producing the unequal distribution of autonomy and resources. EM generates a condition of 'extended punishment' that consists of material and social harms that affect immigrants, families, and communities.

Automated summary

This study investigates the situation of immigrants who are released from custody but still monitored by wearing electronic monitors (EM). The findings suggest that EM, as a surveillance tool, influences the immigrant's relationship with the state, community, and self. Immigrants lose access to co-ethnic social capital under surveillance, leading to the unequal distribution of autonomy and resources. The EM system creates a condition of 'extended punishment' that causes material and social harms to immigrants, families, and communities.