Immigrant communities, documented and undocumented, visa-holders and citizens alike are hurting. This nation was founded on immigrants, and should be proud to be a melting pot of cultures. We seem to have lost this pride and subsequently forgotten the responsibilities to our people.
Due process rights are under attack and immigrants who have lived in the United States for decades continue to face the threat of arrest and deportation. In the eight months of President Trump’s second term, ICE arrests have increased by 268 percent in the U.S.
Combing through the heartbreaking footage of ICE activity, concerning patterns beyond the brutality of the kidnappings themselves appear. Plainclothes agents wearing facemasks and often arriving in unmarked vehicles take people from their homes and off the streets to unknown destinations.
The subversion of human rights to support a nationalist project covers the scene in the red flags of fascism.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claims the increase in masked officers is to protect them from harassment and threats. But, there is a great deal of power in anonymity. It allows for faceless perpetrators to evade moral responsibility.
Who gets to be anonymous? The answer has been rapidly changing. Those in power can hide, while those in resistance are not afforded that luxury.
A masked Department of Homeland Security federal agent takes pictures of protestors on an iPhone during the ICE raids in Paramount, CA.
ICE agents acting in the interest of the federal government are granted this bureaucratic shield of protection from accountability by covering their faces. At the same time, students at our own university, like those who participated in the Palestine Solidarity Encampment, are reprimanded for desiring the same security.
This trend cannot continue. If anything, federal and political actors should be held to a higher standard than the people they represent. Accountability is one of those central fibers of a functional democracy that, when pulled at, unravels the fabrics of our communities entirely.
Not only the inhumanity, but the covert cruelty of ICE kidnappings, should sound a blaring alarm in your mind.
The lines defending our human rights are becoming increasingly blurred, as ICE gains access to locations that previously served as safe spaces. Community hubs — places of worship, hospitals, churches and schools — gathering spaces for family, friends, and loved ones, are no longer viable.
UC Santa Cruz is no exception.
UC policy states that no campus police departments will join efforts with ICE or ICE-affiliated agencies, but in the midst of the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history, this isn’t enough to protect students and to ensure their safety.
City on a Hill Press condemns the brutality and inhumanity of ICE operations. All individuals, regardless of documentation or citizenship status, have the right to due process and to hold those in power accountable without fear of consequence.
As students, we have rallied in protest, hosted know-your-rights workshops and spent time and resources ensuring that our communities are protected. This must continue. When the government dodges accountability, it is our responsibility to persist in the loving resistance that holds this place together.