In New York and across the country, immigrants are navigating an intensifying climate of fear.
From ankle monitors and routine ICE check-ins to viral rumors and street patrols, systems of control have entered into daily life, reshaping people’s sense of freedom.
Invisible Walls
Life under a policy of fear
Under President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration agenda, the U.S. implemented a wave of policies designed to restrict migration and instill fear and uncertainty in immigrant communities targeted for deportation operations.
In New York City, daily life became marked by anxiety. Immigrant advocates responded by setting up legal clinics in churches, parks and community centers. Mental health professionals reported a spike in trauma-related symptoms among their immigrant clients. Even the simple act of commuting to school or work triggered distress.
Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP), operated by ICE through the private prison contractor BI Incorporated. Promoted as an alternative to detention, the program now monitors over 183,000 immigrants nationwide, many of them asylum seekers with no criminal record. In New York City alone, more than 12,000 people are tracked daily using GPS ankle monitors, wrist devices and the mobile app SmartLINK.
Photo and text story published on The Guardian US, June 2025.
Exhibited at Columbia Pulitzer Hall (5º Floor)
