Short-term Immigration-related Detention and the Role of the State

• In Event: 033 - Section on Crime, Law, and Deviance Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 02. Punishment and Incarceration 2

Abstract

In the United States, immigration-related detention, which entails the “deprivation of liberty of noncitizens for reasons related to their immigration status” is a regular practice. Detention is regularly used to deter immigrants from coming to the United States, even though numerous studies have shown that economic opportunity is a much stronger incentive for individuals to migrate. This paper focuses on two aspects of detention in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities in the Rio Grande Valley. First, based on data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), it reveals that individuals are detained for unconscionably long periods of time in facilities that are not designed nor equipped for overnight sleeping. Second, analyzing new survey data from the Binational Defense and Advocacy Program (in Spanish, Programa de Defensa e Incidencia Binacional or PDIB), as well as declarations from a sample of women who were recently detained in RGV facilities, it sheds light on the deplorable conditions of detention that are prevalent in Border Patrol holding cells in RGV. The paper also explores the meaning of these detention tactics as a way to problematize the role of the State in the enactment of a politics of fear. In particular, we argue that detention by CBP is a vehicle used by the government to dehumanize and deprive migrants of rights while relying on metaphors from the past.

Author

• Guillermo R. Cantor, American Immigration Council