Immigrant advocates have launched a campaign to raise funds to develop an emergency alert and personal protection smartphone app that could be used by undocumented immigrants.

Todd Landfried, a spokesperson for Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform, developed the idea for the smartphone app, which aims toĀ ā€help ensure the safety and protect the rights of people who are stopped for possible immigration violations as well as key life-threatening safety concerns.ā€

New America Media reported last week that, ā€œA group of pro-immigrant rights activists in Arizona aim to develop a smartphone application that would help immigrants notify friends, family, and their attorney if they are detained and arrested during a traffic stop.ā€

South Florida undocumented Latino immigrants are no strangers to traffic stop arrests ending in deportation proceedings. HomesteadĀ residentsĀ and immigrant advocates delivered a petition in DecemberĀ with 2,000 signatures to Miami-Dade County Police Department headquarters, ā€œcalling on the department to stop its practice of stopping Latino drivers based on their racial profile.ā€

Landfried told New America Media that he believes Latinos are ā€œwell-positioned to make use of such an app based on recent trends of Latinos’ usage of smartphones. According to a 2010 Nielsen Company report, 45 percent of Hispanic mobile users have a smartphone compared to just over a quarter of white mobile users.ā€

Smartphones have become the gateway for Latinos, African-Americans,s and low-wage workers, who cannot afford high-speed broadband Internet at home.

According to a December 2011 investigation published by Colorlines, a racial justice media outlet, Latino and black access to the Internet through their smartphones has become ā€œthe bridge across the Internet’s long-discussed digital divideā€ while creating a second Internet, ā€œone in which people of color and users with little income are entirely dependent upon cell phone companies for access.ā€

The Colorlines report indicated that, of the 234 million cell phone subscribers in the United States, 45.5 million own smartphones, a technology that is ā€œexpected to bring in more than $23 billion in industry revenue this year.ā€

Colorlines added that Latinos in the U.S. access the Internet, online social networks, and e-mail on smartphones at higher rates than blacks and whites.

According to a February 2011 report by theĀ Pew Hispanic Center:

  • Among cell phone owners, Hispanics are as likely as whites or blacks to utilize at least one of the four non-voice cell phone applications—more than three-fourths (77%) of Hispanics do so while 75% of whites and 79% of blacks do the same.
  • However, Hispanic cell phone owners are more likely than white cell phone owners to access the internet (40% vs. 34%), email (36% vs. 31%), or instant message (45% vs. 24%) from their cell phone.
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