{"id":36967,"date":"2019-07-06T09:09:37","date_gmt":"2019-07-06T16:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=36967"},"modified":"2019-07-06T09:09:37","modified_gmt":"2019-07-06T16:09:37","slug":"everyday-erinyes-173","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2019\/07\/06\/everyday-erinyes-173\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyday Erinyes #173"},"content":{"rendered":"

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto<\/span><\/strong>, Megaera<\/span><\/strong>, and Tisiphone<\/span><\/strong>. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”<\/p>\n

With so much of our national attention focused on the concentration camps at our southern border, I thought the time might be right to look at a scholarly view on all kinds of civil rights issues faced by Mexicans in the United States. So I thought I’d share this report by David FitzGerald, Angela Y. McClain, and Gustavo L\u00f3pez. I do want to point out that the study population comprised people who were born in Mexico and are now living in the United States. That includes documented immigrants, undocumented immigrants, citizens of the US, and non-citizens of the US, who were born in Mexico. It does not include anyone from Central or South America other than Mexico, though it may not be unreasonable to conclude that those persons may experience similar treatment.<\/p>\n

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Mexicans in US routinely confront legal abuse, racial profiling, ICE targeting and other civil rights violations<\/h1>\n
The civil rights of 11.3 million Mexican nationals who live in the US are routinely violated, according to a comprehensive new report on U.S. immigration enforcement since 2009.
\nAP Photo\/Matt York<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

David FitzGerald<\/a>, University of California San Diego<\/a><\/em>; Angela Y. McClean<\/a>, University of California San Diego<\/a><\/em>, and Gustavo L\u00f3pez<\/a>, University of California San Diego<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Officially, the Constitution of the United States<\/a> gives everyone on U.S. soil equal protection under the law \u2013 regardless of nationality or legal status.<\/p>\n

But, as recent stories of the neglectful treatment of migrant children in government detention centers<\/a> demonstrate, these civil rights<\/a> are not always granted to immigrants.<\/p>\n

We are scholars focused on U.S.-Mexico migration. Our report on the enforcement of U.S. immigration law under presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump<\/a>, presented in February to Mexico\u2019s National Human Rights Commission<\/a>, documented pervasive and systematic civil rights violations against Mexicans living in the United States.<\/p>\n

Some of the abuses we documented \u2013 which include racial profiling, discriminatory treatment and due process violations \u2013 result from the Trump administration\u2019s anti-immigration policies<\/a>. Others began much earlier<\/a>, under Obama or well before.<\/p>\n

All paint a troubling picture about the rule of law in the United States and the challenges facing America\u2019s largest immigrant group.<\/p>\n

Discrimination and deportation<\/h2>\n

An estimated 11.3 million<\/a> people born in Mexico now live in the United States \u2013 3% of the total U.S. population.<\/p>\n

About 5 million of them are unauthorized immigrants, meaning Mexicans make up just under half<\/a> of the 10.5 million undocumented immigrants in the country. The other 6.3 million Mexicans in the U.S.<\/a> are either lawful permanent residents or dual nationals who are naturalized U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n

Based on these figures, we found, Immigration and Customs Enforcement \u2013 or ICE, the agency that carries out the nation\u2019s immigration laws \u2013 arrests Mexican immigrants at levels that are disproportionate<\/a> to their share of the unauthorized immigrant population.<\/p>\n

Roughly 70% of immigrants deported from the U.S. interior in 2015 were Mexican<\/a>, the most recent year that such detailed deportation data are available.<\/p>\n

Another 550,000 young Mexican American \u201cDreamers\u201d \u2013 immigrants who were brought to the U.S. unlawfully as children \u2013 became subject to deportation<\/a> when Trump in September 2017 rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which gave them temporary protection from deportation.<\/p>\n

Not all deportations violate immigrants\u2019 civil rights. The Immigration and Nationality Act<\/a> says immigrants may be deported for violating a long list of criminal and administrative laws.<\/p>\n

But evidence suggests<\/a> that Mexicans and other Latinos are sometimes targeted for arrest based on their race or ethnicity.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
In 2013 a federal judge ruled that police in Maricopa County, Arizona, were racial profiling Latinos in traffic stops that targeted immigrants.<\/span>
\nAP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2014, independent monitors<\/a> at a Customs and Border Protection checkpoint in Arivaca, Arizona, just north of the U.S.-Mexico border, found that vehicle occupants who appeared to be Latino were 26 times more likely to be asked to show identification than white-looking vehicle occupants, who are frequently waved through the checkpoint.<\/p>\n

And in 2012, a U.S. Department of Justice investigation in Alamance County, North Carolina, found that the sheriff had instructed deputies<\/a> to \u201cgo out there and get me some of those taco eaters\u201d by targeting Latinos in traffic stops and other law enforcement activities.<\/p>\n

The DOJ concluded<\/a> that the county demonstrated an \u201cegregious pattern of racial profiling\u201d \u2013 a violation of the 14th Amendment<\/a>, which guarantees everyone equal protection under the law.<\/p>\n

Family separation<\/h2>\n

Mexicans in the United States have seen their constitutional rights violated in other ways.<\/p>\n

The most egregious example was the forced separation of families found to have crossed the border illegally<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Under this Trump administration policy, which began in April 2018, at least 2,654 migrant children<\/a> \u2013 and perhaps thousands more<\/a> \u2013 were taken from their parents and held in government custody while their parents were criminally prosecuted for crossing the border unlawfully.<\/p>\n

Thirty of the children known to have been separated from their families were Mexican; the rest were from Central America. Poor record-keeping<\/a> has made it difficult for all of them to be reunited with their families before their parents\u2019 deportation.<\/p>\n

Together, these actions violate the constitutional rights to legal due process, equal protection and, according to the Southern District of California<\/a>, the right of parents to determine the care for their children.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe liberty interest identified in the Fifth Amendment provides a right to family integrity or to familial association,\u201d wrote Judge Dana M. Sabraw in a June 2018 ruling.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A child from Guerrero, Mexico, clings to her mother as the family waits in Tijuana to apply for asylum in the U.S., June 13, 2018.<\/span>
\nAP Photo\/Gregory Bull<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

More routine civil rights violations happen to Mexicans in the U.S. every day, our report found.<\/p>\n

Though children born in the U.S. are entitled by law to American citizenship regardless of their parents\u2019 immigration status, hundreds of undocumented Mexican women in Texas have been denied birth certificates<\/a> for their U.S.-born children since 2013, according to a lawsuit filed by parents<\/a>. In 2016, Texas settled the lawsuit<\/a> and agreed to expand the types of documents immigrants can use to prove their identity.<\/p>\n

And in both Arizona and Texas, so-called \u201cshow me your papers<\/a>\u201d laws allow police to demand identification from anyone they have a \u201creasonable suspicion\u201d may be undocumented, which may lead to discriminatory targeting<\/a> of Latinos.<\/p>\n

Once in government detention, surveys conducted in Mexico<\/a> of recently deported immigrants show, Mexican deportees are often badly treated.<\/p>\n

On average, in 2016 and 2017, about half of all recently deported Mexicans reported having no access to medical services or a bathroom while in government custody. One-third reported experiencing extreme heat or cold.<\/p>\n

Mexicans are not alone in their negative experiences at border patrol facilities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A recent report by the Office of Inspector General<\/a> found unsafe and unsanitary conditions at several U.S. immigrant detention centers, and immigration lawyers found food shortages at some migrant children\u2019s shelters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A climate of fear<\/h2>\n

While Mexicans in the United States have faced biased law enforcement<\/a> and discrimination<\/a> for many decades, their treatment appears to have worsened since President Trump took office in 2017 with an openly anti-Mexican agenda<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A survey of Mexicans recently deported from the United States found<\/a> that the number of people who reported experiencing verbal abuse or physical assault during their time in the U.S. increased 47% between 2016 and 2017.<\/p>\n

The number of hate crimes against Latinos reported to the FBI<\/a> also rose 24% in 2017 compared to 2016 \u2013 increasing from 344 incidents to 427.<\/p>\n

Mexico is concerned about its citizens in the United States.<\/p>\n

In March, President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador and foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard announced<\/a> it would provide more consular services online to increase the reach of Mexico\u2019s 50 brick-and-mortar consulates in the U.S. and provide more legal training to consulate officials.<\/p>\n

To support Mexicans in the U.S. with deportation and other immigration cases, the Mexican government will also strengthen its official ties with U.S.-based legal aid providers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In theory, Mexico shouldn\u2019t have to scramble to defend the rights of its citizens in the U.S. because the U.S. Constitution would. But, in practice, the civil rights of immigrants are simply not always guaranteed.<\/p>\n

[ Like what you\u2019ve read? Want more?<\/em> Sign up for The Conversation\u2019s daily newsletter<\/a>. ]\"The<\/p>\n

David FitzGerald<\/a>, Theodore E. Gildred Chair in U.S.-Mexican Relations, Professor of Sociology, and Co-Director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California San Diego<\/a><\/em>; Angela Y. McClean<\/a>, Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology, Fellow and Graduate Researcher at Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California San Diego<\/a><\/em>, and Gustavo L\u00f3pez<\/a>, Graduate Researcher at Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California San Diego<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

===============================================================<\/p>\n

Alecto<\/span><\/strong>, Megaera<\/span><\/strong>, and Tisiphone<\/span><\/strong>, clearly this pattern of civil abuse has been building for a long time, and is not going to go away overnight. But you can still help us to recognize and call it out when we see it, as well as to applaud anyone who is trying to make things better … like those quincea\u00f1eras who are using their fiestas to promote voter registration.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Furies and I will be back.<\/p>\n

Cross posted to Care2 HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":32899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}