Arizona’s passage of SB 1070, a law that made it a crime to be an undocumented immigrant, has heightened the state’s culture of fear, especially among immigrants. A Department of Justice investigation into racial profiling of Latinos by Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office found that Latinos are now four to nine times as likely to be stopped in traffic than non-Latinos. Often times, pre- and now post-SBN 1070, immigrant rights activists have heard complaints that family members detained would disappear without notice. App developers are trying to fix that with “eAPP,” the Emergency Alert and Personal Protection App.
The New American Media‘s Valeria Fernandez writes that this app will “allow users to notify family, friends, attorneys and even their consulate when they get pulled over by law enforcement or when they are facing an emergency situation that puts their safety or civil rights at risk.” Not only will the app send a pre-set list of people information about the user’s location, it also records the date and time of the incident and can record audio or video. It can also store that data in a Web interface.
The app also informs the user of their civil rights if they are arrested. It could provide assistance in that moment of decision-making, and help immigrant advocates search for undocumented immigrants who have disappeared into the detention system.
eAPP is currently in development. Take a look at it here.
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