Councils awarded “sanctuary” status for their commitment to welcoming refugees are being urged to cut ties with an outsourcing giant that tracks migrants and asylum seekers using “torturous” ankle tags.
In 2021 the Home Office made GPS tagging a mandatory condition of release from immigration detention, to “reduce non-compliance” with bail conditions. By October, over 2,000 people on immigration bail were fitted with a tag. A 12-month pilot to tag some refugees who arrive by small boats or in the backs of lorries was also launched in June last year.
Tags trace a person’s every move in real time and the data, which can be used against people making immigration applications, is kept for up to six years after it’s removed. The process does not have the same regulation as tagging in the criminal justice system.
