ICE fits Haitians in Ohio with ankle monitors as crackdown begins

The Trump administration is moving swiftly to remove the roughly 350,000 Haitian immigrants living in the United States unlawfully since their protection from deportation expired last month.

Hundreds of Haitians residing in the Springfield, Ohio, region were contacted last week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and told to check in with immigration authorities at a local federal office, where many reported being outfitted with ankle monitors, according to lawyers who spoke with the Haitian Times.

Ankle monitors are used under ICE's Alternatives to Detention program which allows the agency to track the GPS location of anyone outfitted with a tracker rather than holding that person in a federal detention facility for weeks or months while they go through court proceedings.