Smartphone Apps Create Practical Barriers

Countries all over the world use technology to keep track of immigrants released from detention centers. The idea is to allow people to live in communities while their cases are adjudicated.

But Petra Molnar of the Refugee Law Lab at York University said the technology is also often employed in ways that are too intrusive and can act like digital shackles. She told Marketplace’s Nova Safo that even smartphone apps, which can be glitchy, are a challenge for immigrants who are often waiting on asylum claims.