Since 2000 over 6,000 migrants have died trying to cross the US-Mexico border. State of Exception/Estado de Excepción, an exhibit at the Parsons School of Design, uses discarded and found objects including clothing, prayer cards, and backpacks to pay homage to those who have lost their lives as well as those who survived the dangerous journey across the border. The materials were collected as part of a research project (called “Undocumented Migration”) by University of Michigan anthropologist Jason De León. He views the “materials as fragments of a history, revealing death, trauma, and suffering on both sides of the border while bringing to light complexities of the migrant experience.”
Read moreOPINION: A Lifeline at the Border: No More Deaths
For decades there has been an increased militarization of the US-Mexico border. For most of the country’s history, the southwest has been culturally and economically connected to the northwest Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California Norte. After the 1980s, when hundreds of thousands of Central American refugees fled the wars in their countries and crossed our southern border, the US government began to construct walls and other barriers to stem the tide. In 1994, the government implemented Operation Gatekeeper, whose aim was to deter would-be migrants from crossing at the historic and well-worn crossings around the Tijuana/San Diego corridor. To some extent, the plan worked—fewer people crossed near the major population centers. But they did not stop coming. Instead, people were pushed out further and further into the extremely inhospitable terrain of the Sonora desert of southern Arizona. By the late 1990s, southern Arizona became the epicenter of a migration, and ground zero of an increasingly deadly journey. There do not appear to be good statistics of how many people die crossing into the US, but several thousand deaths have been documented over the last two decades, and it is estimated that several hundred die each year from dehydration, hypothermia, drowning, or exhaustion.
Read more"Shakedown: How Deportation Robs Immigrants of Their Money and Belongings"
Out of the 400,000 people deported from the US in fiscal year 2013, nearly one third were deported without their money or personal belongings, a new report by No More Deaths says. Using data from No More Deaths' Property Recovery Assistance Project, the report argues that dispossession has become a prevalent and dangerous deportation practice. The report explains the three main ways whereby immigrants being deported lose their money and/or their belongings: complete failure of US officials to return money and belongings before they are deported; cash or funds returned in forms that cannot generally be accessed internationally, such as personal checks, money orders, or prepaid debit cards; and, least common, money directly stolen by US agents.
While the report acknowledges that some Customs and Border Protection (CBP) "agents have indicated that they go out of their way to ensure the return of confiscated belongings," these officers "view this activity as a favor outside of the scope of their duties." This view as well as comments by "higher-level officials suggest a willingness, at all levels of CBP, to use the power to seize belongings at will rather than in accordance with the law."
While the money lost is generally valued at under $100 USD per person, nevertheless this amount represents significant funds for many deported immigrants. As a result of their loss of funds or property, these immigrants reported that they could not afford to travel home, afford shelter or food, were unable to obtain employment due to loss of identification documents, or were exposed to dangers such as threats, robbery, or attacks. This is not to mention the psychological trauma of the loss of personal keepsake and family heirloom items.
The report recommends that detained immigrants be granted access to vital belongings including medications while in custody, that belongings should never be destroyed while detained immigrants are serving a sentence, and that funds are provided to immigrants in cash before they are deported.
In response to the allegations, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Marsha Catron said in an email that the "agency has standards to ensure detainees' property is safeguarded and returned when they are released or deported" and that any "'allegation of missing property will be thoroughly investigated[.]'"