In These Times: We Can’t Stop the Horrors of Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Unless We Reckon With Obama’s Role

“The criminalization of aid workers stems from the profound dehumanization of immigrants themselves. Sophia E. Gurulé, a staff attorney for the immigration practice of the Bronx Defenders, represents indigent people detained during their deportation proceedings. She tells In These Times that in September of 2018 she witnessed an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attorney refer to a person as a “barbarian” during a bond hearing to justify that person’s continued incarceration and family separation. “When the State employs racists like this, it shows their true motivations: to police, incarcerate and deport Black and brown people no matter the devastation they inflict on families,” she says. “We cannot repeat their racist rhetoric and perpetuate this dehumanization.”

Read the full article here