Immigration, more specifically immigration detention, has long been a contentious issue in American politics and society. A polarizing topic, many feel that the labels “criminal” and “dirty” are fit to describe migrants and thus justify their detention, while others believe they are honest individuals that deserve human rights and the chance to integrate into the American lifestyle.
Immigration detention itself is handled by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the DHS, and has been on the rise since its implementation, especially under former President Trump. More recently, several investigations into ICE by several human rights organizations reveal an alarming pattern of abuse, hence the popularity and debate around this issue among the electorate.
So, how did such a system become the established norm for dealing with asylum seekers in the United States? First we must examine what the asylum process entailed before the 1980s.
Before immigration detention began, most immigrants who were suspected of not holding legitimate visas were simply granted parole or bond, who would then live freely in the United States as they waited for ICE to deliver a decision on their immigration statuses. All this changed during the Reagan administration.
Between the 1970s and 80s, an estimated 140,000 Haitian and Cuban refugees arrived on the southern border seeking asylum from political conflict and famine. President Reagan then made the controversial decision to place these asylum seekers in detention centers. This was an extremely risky move for this administration as the act of detaining asylum seekers was largely seen as undemocratic and the deprivation of basic liberties, which meant possible backlash from the public. However, it was expedient, and Reagan was spurred on by a host of factors, including economic instability, growing racist attitudes, fears of overflowing migrant populations, and the false claim that Haitian migrants were disproportionately high transmitters of AIDS.
The response from the administration was simply to detain every last migrant who arrived at the border seeking asylum, and then determining whether they can legally be considered refugees, which was often prolonged to a years-long process.
To justify his actions, Reagan pointed to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which did, in fact, allow for the detention of migrants regarding suspicions around the legitimacy of their visas. This law technically did establish detention as a valid immigration practice; though, as stated earlier, it was commonplace for immigration officials to release migrants on parole/bonds until any visa issues were settled.
Because motives behind detention here were rooted in xenophobic attitudes, with Reagan acting to appease much of his racist, dissenting constituency that criminalized asylum-seekers, this intolerance provided the basis for abuse, and the outright mistreatment of asylum-seekers only escalated from there. Today, the immigration detention system in America is one of the worst incineration facilities in the world, and the mistreatment of largely innocent migrants is sharply on the uptick.
President Biden has promised to end this system, yet his administration seems to be pursuing policies that actually reinforce detention. We are yet to see any meaningful legislation that resolves this issue.
