“Before we can talk about the polimigra, we have to talk about racism and white supremacy”

• In Event: The Criminalization-to-Deportation Pipeline: Community Responses, Advocacy, and Resistance

Abstract

When do immigrant organizers and activists see the potential for solidarity with issues outside of the polimigra/crim-in/crimmigration? Many approaches from organizers, lawyers, scholars, etc. when focusing on calls to Abolish ICE solely focus our efforts pushing against the criminalization of immigrants rather than forcing us to consider what an # Abolish Prisons, Police, and ICE framing and scope would encompass. Yet, some of us recognize that piecemeal reforms will continue to just remix/recalibrate policies that will continue to disproportionately harm immigrant and oppressed communities. Because ICE is a federal agency, accountability for this agency has to be a national effort with clear targets. Using interview data and publicly available content from community forums with immigrant rights organizers, this paper dives into the challenges immigrant rights organizers face when tackling immigration enforcement and where there are possibilities for abolitionist approaches. I also argue that their legal consciousness and political participation is shaped in two ways: 1) by the barriers associated with political participation and “emancipation” for noncitizens and 2) by their “integration” into racialized communities. While many of these organizers take an abolitionist approach, they also exist within social movements (grassroots groups, non-profits, legal field, etc.) that often normalizes two dichotomies the good/bad immigrant and the state/non-state.

Author

• Felicia Arriaga, Baruch College, CUNY