Environmental Justice and Intersectionality in the Siting of Detention Centers

• In Event: Immigrant Detention and Deportation

Abstract

Environmental risks are disproportionately borne by communities of color and low income neighborhoods, as established through decades of research. Environmental toxics, such as the siting of hazardous wastes, landfills, incinerators, and polluting industries and other high risk environmental threats are not shared equally and are more likely to be placed in areas where there are marginalized political voices. Research on environmental justice in the U.S. has mostly focused on risk inequality for American citizens. If marginalized U.S. citizens already disproportionately bear the risk of toxics, how is this compounded when the community is comprised of non-citizens in immigrant detention centers? Using data from The Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Indicators in EJSCREEN and vulnerability factors, this research will seek to discover whether immigrant detention centers in Texas are more likely to be placed in areas with one or more elevated environmental risk factors.

Authors

• Leda Barnett, Our Lady of the Lake University

• Renelinda Arana, Our Lady of the Lake University