Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Crime in the Media Fall 2020

The source of media that I chose to examine was the Netflix original docuseries titled Immigration Nation. This six-part docuseries was filmed between 2017 and 2020 and shows footage from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency’s work while under the Trump administration. Following the release of the docuseries, press secretary for ICE, Jenny L. Burke, stated that the agency is “shocked by the mischaracterizations made by the production company,” and “wholeheartedly disputes the allegations brought forward by filmmakers of this production.” Due to this criticism, before the series was released the filmmakers received legal threats and ICE unsuccessfully attempted to delay the release of the series until after the 2020 election.

Over the course of three years, filmmakers were able to show how ICE has changed under the Trump administration. By recording upper-level ICE agents rationalizing their duties, protests, arrests made by ICE agents, those who have been detained and the family of those who have been detained, families being reunited, press conferences lead by President Trump and other government officials, news segments, and lawyers explaining the impact that these changes have had – this series paints a clear picture of the agency.

The first episode of the series provides the viewers with background information that they would most likely be unfamiliar with prior to watching this series. First, it was explained that deportation officers are tasked with locating, arresting, and removing fugitive aliens. Under previous administrations ICE prioritized removing immigrants arrested for committing serious crimes. After explaining ICE agents’ basic duties, the changes the President Trump implemented were described and how they have impacted the agency. It was explained how during President Trump’s first few days in office, he signed an executive order shifting priorities to remove all immigration violators. This executive order mandated that 10,000 immigration officers were to be hired. When ICE was established in 2003 there were eight units and now, due to this executive order, there are one hundred and twenty-nine units.

For me, some of the most compelling parts of the series are when the ICE agents are talking to the camera. Many of the immigrants that are detained are known as collaterals, meaning they were not the person that ICE was seeking out, but are detained as well. One officer, Brian, was explaining that is he encounters a collateral who is being corporative, that he does not like to detain them. Especially, not for the sake of numbers. As he is explaining that he gets a call from his boss who tells him, “start taking collaterals, man. I don’t care what you do, but bring at least two people in.” Once off the phone, Brian asks the cameraman if he knew that he was with him. After the cameraman confirmed that he did, Brian says, “that’s a pretty stupid fucking thing to say,” about his boss. If they were willing to say this on camera, what is going on behind the scenes when they are not being filmed?

One of the lawyers who was filmed explained that overall, it is not the immigration officers who are morally bankrupt. They are just doing their job and from the inside, they think what they are doing is necessary because it has become so routine for them. The blame is not on them but is on the institutions that changed the policies. These policy changes and the lack of accountability are what causes the masses to distrust these institutions.

I thought that this was an important take away and a critique that I do not think many people who disagree with ICE oppositionists understand. In fact, this critique could be applied to any aspect of the criminal justice system and I believe it goes along with what we have been discussing in class. This sentiment is touched on in Policing the Black Man, “a history of unaddressed massive abuses is likely to be socially divisive, to generate mistrust between groups and in the institutions of the State, and to hamper or slow down the achievement of security and development goals” (Davis, 2018, p.41).

While we only briefly discussed the criminalization of immigration in class, this series touched on quite a few topics that we went over. In one of the articles that we reviewed for class the author stated, “in theory, the law extends ‘basic’ due process protections to non‐citizens, but in practice these can be violated” (Menjívar, Cervantes, & Alvord, 2018). I believe that what the author stated went along with how the filmmakers described deceptive tactics that ICE agents employ. It was described in the series that enforcement officers typically execute administrative warrants and are not allowed to enter a residence unless given permission. ICE agents are trained to identify themselves as the “police” unless they are specifically asked by the individual that they are interacting with.

Overall, this series was powerful, heartbreaking, disturbing, and enraging. It was a tough watch, but I believe it is absolutely a must watch. What I particularly liked about it was that the filmmakers did not tell you how you should feel as it is purely observational. However, I cannot imagine that many people watch this series finish it thinking that the agency’s duties are humane and just.

Going into this series, I did not have a favorable opinion of ICE and this series only reinforced that belief. Of course, I would recommend this to those who share similar beliefs. However, for those who have a favorable opinion of ICE, I would also recommend this to challenge your viewpoint.

References

Davis, A. J. (2018). Policing the Black man: Arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment. New York,

NY: Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

Menjívar, C., Cervantes, A. G., & Alvord, D. (2018). The expansion of “crimmigration,” mass

detention, and deportation. Sociology Compass, 12(4). doi:10.1111/soc4.12573.