Freedom or Control? Expanding a Relational Understanding of ICE’s Alternatives to Detention Program

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has increasingly expanded its use of the Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program, a surveillance-based initiative promoted as a more humane form of enforcement. While prior research has focused on migrants' experiences under ATD, this study draws on relational sociology and street-level bureaucracy theory to examine other actors involved in the process of ATD, namely immigration institutional actors. Based on semi-structured interviews with former ICE agents and immigration advocates, as well as ethnographic fieldwork at the San Francisco ICE field office and immigration court, this study investigates how various immigration actors understand the ATD program and shape the experiences of migrants under the program across institutional contexts. Interviews reveal divergent understandings: institutional actors view the program as inefficient and overly discretionary, while advocates frame ATD as an extension of the carceral system that harms migrant well-being. Field observations highlight the discretionary power exercised by security guards and judges, as well as the technological gaps that migrants face when navigating immigration court. These findings demonstrate how the deployment of advanced surveillance technologies under ATD coexists with outdated legal bureaucratic systems, contributing to migrants' experiences of unpredictability and control. By examining the perspectives and actions of institutional actors, this study expands the relational understanding of ATD and highlights the discretionary and structural conditions that shape immigrant surveillance.