Immigration and Abolition

Immigration and Abolition

 

In this session, we explore the connections between the criminal punishment system and the immigration enforcement system. Why is this system not ‘broken’ but rather working as designed? How do some pro-immigrant positions end up reinforcing the notion that immigrants are dangerous and undeserving? We discuss the limits of some popular reforms, and how an abolitionist lens can help us identify what sorts of reforms are worth fighting for, what has changed, and what hasn’t, since Democrats took control of the White House. This session was led by Silky Shah, who is the Executive Director of Detention Watch Network, a national coalition building power to abolish immigration detention in the United States. She has worked as an organizer on issues related to immigration detention, the prison industrial complex, and racial and migrant justice for nearly 20 years.