Activism

GPS Shackles in Delivery Rooms: ICE’s War on Pregnant Migrants – Who’s Profiting and How to Fight Back

Charles U. Farley

11 Dec 2025 • 3 min read

Pregnant migrants are walking into hospitals—exam rooms, ORs, even delivery suites—with ICE surveillance devices strapped on, and doctors often can't remove them without jumping through federal hoops. It's not some accident; it's a straight-up profit machine disguised as "Alternatives to Detention," where private companies and ICE call the shots on how much danger these folks endure just for seeking safety.

What's really going on here?

Picture this: Under ICE's ATD and ISAP programs, asylum seekers get slapped with ankle GPS trackers or phone apps run by BI Incorporated, which is owned by the GEO Group. For pregnant women, these things mess with scans, surgeries, and emergencies—but hospitals get told "nope, ICE approval first," even if it's life-or-death.

ICE has old rules saying don't put GPS on pregnant people or anyone with serious health issues. But field offices ignore it, piling on the devices and drowning removal requests in paperwork. Docs end up stuck: save the patient or break immigration rules?

Who's to blame?

It's a team effort of cruelty. ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and local Field Office Directors pick who gets monitored and when (or if) it comes off. BI Inc. and GEO Group cash in by running the tech and snitching on "compliance," dodging blame when it hurts patients.

This all ramps up under Trump—first term and now 2.0—pushing surveillance over real community help. It's immigration enforcement crashing into reproductive rights, turning pregnant legs into monitor mounts right there in the ER.

Turn anger into action

Mad about this? Here's how to fight back, step by step.

Hit up your Members of Congress
Call or email your Rep and Senators: Demand a law banning monitors on pregnant folks and those with health issues. Push for hearings on ATD/ISAP harms and private contractors. Force ICE to make pregnancy rules public and enforceable—not just dusty memos.
Talk to the immigration or homeland security staffer; they're the ones who can move the needle.
Back frontline groups
Donate and share from orgs tracking ATD surveillance, like those dropping policy briefs and tech critiques. Pass on "how to ditch your GPS" guides to folks in need—they cover contacting ICE, docs to submit, and pushing medical angles.
Rally health pros
Healthcare workers: Bring it to ethics boards, unions, associations—demand hospitals get emergency removal power. Everyone else: Email OB-GYN groups, nurses, public health orgs to call this out and gather clinician stories.

Specific contacts to hit

Name names—keeps it real without targeting grunts.

Lawmakers: Your Rep/Senators via Congress.gov. Target Homeland Security/Judiciary Committees for immigration oversight.
DHS/ICE: File with DHS Civil Rights office on health/human rights risks. Hit local ERO offices for instant hospital removal rules.
BI Incorporated / GEO Group:
BI: (303) 289-9292 or compliance@bi.com—demand hospitals get emergency removal OK for pregnancies.
GEO (NYSE: GEO): (561) 249-2000 or investorrelations@geogroup.com. Tell shareholders, unions, faith investors to grill them at meetings or SEC filings.

Protest chants and scripts

Steal these for calls, posts, rallies:

"No begging ICE for a doctor's cut—remove the monitor now!"
"ATD in the OR? That's not freedom, that's chains."
"ICE + BI: Pregnancy ain't punishment."
"GPS shackles kill care—state violence in plastic."
"Hospitals remove threats first—no ICE permission needed."
"Trump's machine in delivery rooms? GEO profits from reproductive terror."

For emails/calls: Say who you are (veteran? Doc?), sum the problem ("Pregnant migrants stuck with GPS in emergencies—hospitals blocked"), ask big ("Ban it, hearings, exemptions, hospital power").

This isn't one story—it's our call: Is a pregnant body's safety up for ICE and prison profiteers? Vets, healers, human beings: Shout no. Loud. Keep shouting.