Week 7 Kathlene Ngo A03

Kathlene Ngo Section A03 

Week Theme: Immigration: Criminalization of Immigrants
 Many problems that the United States may not be actually caused by immigrants despite what popular belief and political figures say. This has became a huge issue in America because all the blame of societal problems are placed on immigrants and undocumented immigrants. After reading  "The Criminalization of Immigration and the Privatization of the Immigrant Detention: Implications for Justice," the problem of immigrants runs must deeper than most people believe. With the privatization of jails and rehabilitation centers, many powerful and wealthy figures give financial support to politicians who support laws that increase profit for these private companies. Since the government pairs up with these private companies to help regulate the law, it is difficult to pinpoint the source of immigrant criminalization. As the article states, undocumented immigrants obtaining a driver's license and/or  working permit are acts of felony; this simply paves the way for undocumented immigrants to drive illegally or sit in jail after getting caught. As a second-generation Vietnamese-American, I find it difficult to hear that all the the United States' societal issues are being placed upon immigrants. With my hard-working parents and relatives, I believe that although some of the issues can be partially because of poor, low-wage immigrants, the majority are not the cause of such problems. It is only out of desperation that they break the law to obtain financial stability for their families against the rigid laws/regulations.


Question: How are we able to fight against these powerful forces that shape criminalization of immigrants?

References

Ackerman, A. R. and Furman, R. (2013). The Criminalization of Immigration and the Privatization of the Immigration Detention: Implications for Justice. Contemporary Justice Review.

Cain, Sarah Li. “How Do Undocumented Immigrants Earn (and Keep) Money?” Make Change, Make Change, 23 July 2018, www.makechange.aspiration.com/articles/how-undocumented-immigrants-earn-and-keep-money.