Presenter(s): Giovanni Ricci
Faculty Mentor(s): Noah Glusman
Poster 170
Session: Social Activism ARC
In the nearly twenty years since September 11th attacks, the United States has seen, as a result of changed cultural values, a dramatic increase in aggressive immigration policy as a means of controlling the influx of both high risk individuals and various racial and ethnic groups. Paired with the refugee crisis from the Syrian Civil War, there has been an increase in the government’s pursuit of more aggressive immigration policy. Regardless of the effectiveness of such immigration policies, there has been increasing criminalization of South and Central American immigrants, a growing anti-Muslim sentiment, and a general increase in xenophobic rhetoric in the American political sphere. As such, the United States has seen intensifying public criticism of various administrations’ immigration policies, and perhaps most notably, the increasingly aggressive tactics utilized by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE). Many argue that the aggressive nature of these policies infringes on the human rights of immigrants. However, due to the vulnerable nature of their immigration status, these immigrants often lack the ability to make their voices heard without risk of detainment, deportation, and family separation. This has since raised the question of whether or not ICE is actively targeting immigrant activists as a means of preventing immigration policy criticism in the public eye. Upon review of various first hand accounts and the work of investigative journalists, there is evidence that ICE is deliberately targeting immigrant activists. This is immensely problematic as it poses a number of potential human rights violations under both US constitutional law and various international human rights treaties of the United Nations. ICE’s policies infringe on the human rights of the especially vulnerable population of immigrant refugees, as such practices limit the right to speak out against the potential human rights violations caused by current immigration policies and practices.