A new smartphone app, ALMA, designed to give immigrant families a fast, coordinated response when ICE agents arrive at their door, is drawing interest and controversy, as the Trump administration sharply expands enforcement.
ALMA, an acronym for Apoyo Legal, Migrante y Alerta (Legal, Migrant and Alert Support), was launched on Nov. 25 by the Salvadoran American Leadership and Education Fund, a Los Angeles–based immigrant-advocacy group. The free app lets a person who is detained or approached by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) push a single “one-tap” alert that notifies family members, community groups, and lawyers and transmits the user’s location, organizers said.
“ALMA was created to change that,” Jocelyn Duarte, executive director of SALEF, said in an email to The Associated Press. “This reflects the interest and need for a reliable tool to ensure the safety and well-being of immigrant families,” Duarte said. Roughly 1,000 people had registered for the service since the launch.
The ALMA app is intended to summon help in case a user is detained by ICE agents
ALMA’s core feature is an emergency button intended to summon immediate help if a user is confronted by uniformed agents or witnesses excessive force. The app also includes a locator to follow the transfer of a detainee who has the app installed, legal-rights training, templates for family emergency plans, a place to store digital copies of vital documents, and links to emotional-health and legal resources. SALEF says the tool initially focused on Los Angeles but can be used elsewhere, and organizers are working to expand local support networks.
“The app is for emergency preparation and prevention, so families have a plan, know their rights, and can respond without making decisions in a moment of crisis,” Duarte said in Spanish in an interview published by local outlets. She added that ALMA provides legal referral numbers and two lawyers who work with SALEF in Los Angeles.
🇺🇸📱Activistas presentaron ALMA, una app para celular que ayuda a los migrantes a alertar a sus familiares en caso de ser detenidos por ICE.
Además, la aplicación brinda a los indocumentados información sobre sus derechos en caso de cruzarse con agentes migratorios. pic.twitter.com/UdW7FzCbFx
— Noticias EstrellaTV (@NEstrellaTv) November 28, 2025
Supporters say the app fills an urgent need. Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and announced an aggressive immigration agenda, ICE arrests have surged, the Deportation Data Project at the University of California, Berkeley, found. By Oct. 15, ICE had detained about 220,000 people nationwide; officials elsewhere say more than one-third of those arrested did not have criminal records, statistics that advocates say underline the precarious situation facing many families.
ALMA’s team says the app’s goal is preparation, not evasion of authorities
But critics have raised concerns, and the app “has already generated controversy in several sectors.” Organizers say ALMA’s goal is narrowly focused on safety, legal preparedness, and family planning, not on evasion.
ALMA’s one-tap alert sends a location to designated contacts, a function organizers say can help relatives and attorneys locate a detained loved one quickly, a task often complicated by the fragmented and fast-moving nature of immigration enforcement. The app also provides tutorials on what to say and do during an encounter with ICE, and on how families can designate guardians and collect essential paperwork in case of separation.
Immigrant-rights groups argue that timely information and a prepared network of legal help can reduce needless detentions and limit family disruption. “Increased immigration enforcement has left many immigrant families living with uncertainty and fear,” SALEF wrote on its website announcing the app. “ALMA was created to change that.”
Privacy and security remain key questions for technology that tracks location and stores sensitive documents. SALEF says ALMA was built in collaboration with other advocacy organizations and that it includes safeguards to protect users, but details about data security and retention have not been widely publicized.
Organizers said the app also offers emotional-support resources for relatives coping with detention and separation, and that it aims to expand partnerships in other cities so the resources and referral networks in the tool better match local needs. For many Latino families in areas of heavy enforcement, such an app can be a practical lifeline. “It’s a bridge between a person detained and their network,” said Duarte. “We want families to be prepared, not terrified.”