Grantee Report Documents Civil Rights Abuses in Immigration Policing

Saturday, December 18th is International Migrants Day -- a time when communities and nations pause to celebrate the rights of the more than 185 million people worldwide who live outside of their countries of origin as migrants or refugees. But according to a report newly released by Ms. Foundation grantee the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, we here in the United States have precious little to celebrate these days when it comes to our treatment of migrants and our respect for their rights.

The NNIRR report, Injustice for All: The Rise of the Immigration Policing Regime [pdf], argues that in the past decade, the US government has built a "brutal system of immigration control and policing that criminalizes immigration status, normalizes the forcible separation of families, destabilizes communities and workplaces, and fuels widespread civil rights violations." Furthermore, the report's authors point out, the system encourages "racial discrimination and hate violence against immigrants" -- as well as against individuals perceived to be foreign born or "illegal."

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