The Washington Post reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement has directed its agents to skyrocket the use of GPS ankle monitors, which advocates have long denounced as “digital shackles.” The move will sharply expand ICE’s round-the-clock surveillance of some 180,000 immigrants under the so-called Alternatives to Detention program. Activists who’ve challenged the use of tech for immigration crackdowns say these programs amount to digital prisons, and have warned of privacy violations and the mass collection of personal data by ICE.

In related news, an Afghan interpreter who came to the United States after working with U.S. troops during the invasion of Afghanistan was taken by masked federal agents this week after an appointment related to his green card application. The person was identified only as Zia. Zia and his family fled Afghanistan following the Taliban’s return to power in 2021. They were granted humanitarian parole by the Biden administration in 2024.

This comes as thousands of Afghans in the U.S. face deportation after a federal appeals court refused to postpone the Trump administration’s move to end temporary protected status for Afghans. The termination went into effect on July 21.