US citizens threatened with racial discrimination by Immigration and Customs Enforcement: ‘I carry my passport card at all times’ | American immigration
Sleep with your passport next to your pillow. Bring your birth certificate to practice football. Avoid large gatherings and crowds. Buying groceries for relatives who are too afraid to go out.
These are some of the ways U.S. citizens and permanent residents of color have changed the way they move across a world where widespread immigration raids create a pervasive climate of fear.
While racial profiling has long been a staple of American law and immigration enforcement, the feeling that anyone can be targeted because of their appearance or the language they speak has become acute in recent months.
In September, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority sided against Los Angeles-area plaintiffs who said “roving” immigration patrols violated their Fourth Amendment rights by stopping people based on race, language, occupation or location. Critics say the ruling “legitimized racial profiling.”
Following this ruling, we asked US citizens and permanent residents of color whether they had made changes to their daily lives out of fear of being stopped or detained. We received over 200 responses.
“I get very anxious when I go out,” said Anna, a recent college graduate from Illinois who asked to be identified only by her first name. “The prospect of being racially profiled and detained is scary…and the fact that some of my family members, who are neither US citizens nor criminals, could be detained due to racial profiling is even scarier.”
The 22-year-old has taken on additional responsibilities so that family members without legal status can avoid public places. She carries her real ID and a copy of her passport when she does grocery shopping and errands for her family. When she takes her brother to soccer practice or matches, she carries his birth certificate, too.
“I’m currently in the process of interviewing for jobs, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep doing this when I get a job. That scares me.”
Javier Lopez lives in Boyle Heights, a predominantly Latino neighborhood in Los Angeles that has been one of the main targets of roving ice patrols. “It is a shame and a disappointment for this country,” he said of the situation in his city.
“It’s unbelievable to see ICE agents walking around East Los Angeles stopping at any taco stand and kidnapping people so easily. In 32 years of living here, I could never have imagined these racist raids happening.”
Javier’s parents have been permanent residents for over 10 years. But he says he won’t let them leave the house alone anymore because they don’t speak English well, and they could be stopped and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement because of it.
The case was brought to the Supreme Court by two Latino defendants from Los Angeles, however, the participants who spoke to The Guardian had a variety of backgrounds, different ethnicities, and past experiences of racial profiling. Most people said they now carry advanced forms of identification wherever they go.
“Now I keep my real ID and US passport card with me at all times, even when I use the bathroom. They are handy when I sleep,” said an IT professional from California and a naturalized US citizen who asked that his real name not be used. “I’m not sure that’s enough.”
He said immigration enforcement under Trump is also reminiscent of the policies and discrimination he faced after 9/11 because of his Middle Eastern name. “At that time, I was stopped and searched several times because of my name and nothing else. I was kicked out of the place I was living because of my name.”
Critics and advocates have dubbed ICE’s racially motivated detentions the “Kavanaugh stop,” after Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh confirmed In agreed opinion That people with legal status in the United States will only be questioned “briefly” by immigration agents. However, extensive reporting published by The Guardian and Other ports It showed shocking tactics used by masked agents from Immigration, Customs Enforcement, and Border Patrol, including detaining U.S. citizens and permanent residents.
“My husband is also a naturalized citizen of Mexico, and he is afraid to go to large events or go anywhere near Los Angeles. Everyone in both our families now keeps proof of citizenship or permanent residency on their person at all times. We are all afraid of the inevitable ‘papers please’ moment.”
Another respondent from Georgia said her family has all of their naturalization papers, should they need them, but she also went so far as to discuss plans of action if someone is detained.
“I created a spreadsheet for allies, so that if anything happened to one of our family members, we could start a kind of phone tree to get the word out and make a lot of noise about it. We added location tracking apps to our phones and shared them with each other.”
A number of people stressed the impact of racial profiling on the daily lives of their entire families. A Louisiana woman, who identified herself as white, said she was “terrified” for her husband, who was born in Central America, and her US-born son, and added that she no longer trusted local police because they had immigration enforcement agreements in place.
“I follow the news obsessively, and I am very wary of the presence of police officers while driving, especially with them.” “If we were robbed, I probably wouldn’t report it because I can’t trust what the sheriff would do if they came to my house,” she said.
A handful of people were united in reaction to the Supreme Court ruling and the prospect of being racially profiled. One California woman has decided to embrace Latin more openly in public.
“I haven’t made any changes. On the contrary!” Maria Castano, a naturalized citizen of Spain, said: The 67-year-old retired teacher says she has also been involved with Indivisible, a non-profit organization that organizes No Kings protests across the country. “Now I only listen to Spanish-speaking music in the car with all the windows open and sing along.”