#8 The cost of technology

The UK’s Home Office has introduced changes to immigration law that now sees electronic monitoring as a mandatory condition for many on immigration bail. The overwhelming majority of those subject to it will be fitted with an invasive GPS tag, tracking the wearer's every move, including where they shop, worship and who they spend time with. They are forced to wear this invasive surveillance device while waiting for the Home Office to make a decision regarding their immigration status (a process that can take up to five years). This month’s newsletter shares research addressing the associated ‘psychological torture’ caused by this inhumane technology, the accelerated use of tech in migration surveillance in relation to the financial growth of the sector, and the colonial legacy of policing and biometrics embedded in these measures.  

• A damning report by Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID), Medical Justice and Public Law Project evidences the human cost of GPS tagging in the Immigration System.

• This report by the Refugee Council reveals the staggering rise of long waits for decisions on asylum applications by the Home Office.

• A UK-based charity, Privacy International, have filed complaints with two regulators against the Home Office’s use of GPS ankle tags.

• The EU’s primary border and coast guard agency, Frontex, has commissioned emerging technologies for the policing of migrant communities, according to this story by the Guardian.

• An academic paper developing the concept of ‘fortress capitalism’ in relation to migration and border regimes in Europe.

• Finally, this article evidences the ways in which biometric technologies are extensions of colonial legacies.