Week 7_Emerald Vang_A03

Immigrants have been known to be associated with bad people such as gang members, runaways, and etc. I understand that America doesn't want any trouble from immigrants who are bad, but those who are good don't deserve to be placed in jail for being identified as an immigrant. Reading "The criminalization of immigration and the privatization of the immigrant detention: implications for justice" made me think a lot about my present and my peers. I myself have friends whose parents are immigrants. I've heard things such as their parents not being able to go on trips with them because they were undocumented. That they could be put into jail. When I was younger, I could never understand why their parents would go to jail for that. I knew they weren't bad people, so why? Now that I'm older, I realize that there are regulations, cautions that must be taken into consideration. No matter what type of person you are, these people in power don't want to get to know you, they don't want to take a risk. They don't want to be infiltrated by goons. They don't care because apparently, you weren't born on this piece of dirt. Now that America is doing things like deportation and ICE, I'm scared of losing friends from immigrant parents. There is way more criminal activity going on in the U.S. to be taken care of with as much seriousness they put into criminalizing immigration. While forces are largely taking care of immigrants, we still have things like thieves, rapists, and murderers here that should be taken care of more. And even after immigrants are put into jail, they have worse living conditions than regular prisons. These containments built for immigrants are focused on profit and not the care of inmates. This isn't right and I think they should be treated as equal as other facilities, especially when some of them are completely innocent immigrants people. Everything about criminalizing immigrants just makes things worse for those families and society.
Q: Why is it that these powerful forces choose to ignore that not all immigrants are bad, that they should be spared?

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.
• (Immigrant pin.). Retrieved from       https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Report-Detainees-at-Texas-detention-center-12774979.php