Something radical is happening in this country, and whatever is happening here, is actually also affecting the rest of the world. That’s the macro view. Whatever is happening is also happening at a personal level. Fear is taking hold and gripping entire communities.
For example, for communities of color and for indigenous peoples, many of the rights that Americans take for granted have never applied to us. Racial profiling (by all of society’s institutions), police brutality, extrajudicial killings, immigration raids, special detention centers are part of our reality.
This week, I take my students from the University of Arizona to something called Operation Streamline. Not even in the gloomiest days of apartheid South Africa did something similar exist. It is a “judicial” procedure in which 70 migrants are charged daily, tried, convicted, sentenced, and shipped off to a private prison, all within a span of 90 minutes. During this proceeding, these prisoners are chained from their wrists, waist, and ankles. It is dehumanization on full display. In addition, with the new president, this anti-immigrant charade is about to become bigger.
While things look bleak in this country, there is no one more affected than the undocumented population here. Every semester I have seen students deal with their immigration status or that of their families. Last year, I remember one student who disappeared because her husband was deported in the middle of the semester. One had to go to Washington, D.C., to plead for the release of her mother. In addition, there have been others that have had to resort to extraordinary measures.
Despite everything, students have always been their own strongest advocates. Moreover, they have learned to speak for themselves. That is now changing. People that are stepping forward are being picked up by the migra or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In Jackson, Mississippi, Daniela Vargas, a prospective math professor, was picked up recently by the migra for criticizing an ICE raid that picked up her father and brother. ICE described her arrest as part of “targeted enforcement” operations. This is the opposite of random and she is not a felon. This case is not isolated.
Those being picked up are not threats to this country. For example, Romulo Avelica-Gonzalez, in the country for some 20 years, was picked up in Los Angeles while dropping off his daughters at school. That was for a DUI. Last month, Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, was also deported, making her the first person deported under his regime. She is not a violent felon. Her crime was simply working here without proper documents. We have already seen massive dragnet raids and more are expected during this administration.
