Ismelda is an immigrant who has been in the United States for years with an asylum application process that has not been resolved. Since then, she hasn't missed a single appointment with immigration authorities in San Diego, but at her most recent hearing, she left with a digital ankle bracelet on her left ankle.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has ordered that all immigrants who are part of a monitoring program, including Ismelda, be fitted with an electronic ankle bracelet.

According to an internal document, which The Washington Post has had access to, the measure affects 183,000 people. The GPS shackles were placed on everyone who is part of ICE's "Alternatives to Detention" project.

Suprised by this new obligation, Ismelda told a Noticias Telemundo report what she told the agents: "I have no violations, I have been to all the appointments, I even stopped working to be home and wait for them" (...) But they still put it on me."

The only exception is pregnant women, who instead of wearing a shackle are given a digital bracelet that serves the same purpose: to keep them located on the ICE monitor.

Ismelda feels ashamed of having to live with a shackle.

The woman from San Diego makes a living cleaning houses, a job he has done for many years to support himself financially and to care for his sick son. However, an ankle shackle leaves him in a situation that causes him shame.

"I've never committed a crime and it really embarrasses me because criminals are shackled like this. People look at you as if you've done something wrong," Ismelda said.

Although the use of these devices is considered more compassionate than physical restraint, their use has also been criticized for how uncomfortable they are to wear. In addition to the invasion of privacy and the visible stigma it imposes on those forced to wear them.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was consulted by the television network about this new obligation and was emphatic in pointing out that any immigrant who feels uncomfortable with the measure is free to self-deport.

"Any foreigner who is concerned about having to wear an electronic bracelet... Should accept payment of $1,000 from the United States government," said the federal department.

Activists and advocates for immigrants have spoken out about this order and consider it "inhumane" that people must wear a bracelet, even when they do not have a criminal record.