Month: October 2020

https://splinternews.com/ice-caught-trying-to-downplay-just-how-much-its-been-ta-1819153630#replies

My artifact comes from the article titled “ICE Caught Trying to Downplay Just How Much It’s Been Targeting Innocent People” by Rafi Schwartz. In the picture we see innocent people being targeted and chained as if they are animals just because they are undocumented. It is sad to see the fear on these people’s faces, wondering what will come next. This artifact is significant to me because I am an immigrant too and my family and I came to the United States in search of a better life. I believe that these people also came in search of a better life and in my opinion, it is wrong to treat them as if they are criminals, when in fact they are just working hard to have a better life. Even though undocumented persons do not have the paperwork, they still contribute tremendously to the economy as they are working, paying taxes and buying items which pumps more money into the economy.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement has changed tremendously through the Trump Administration. When President Trump went into power, he signed three executive orders on border security and interior enforcement which threatened the rights of immigrants and refugees in the United States of America as well as globally.

My research question is “Is the way that ICE is handling undocumented immigrants humane? Is there anything that could be done to better deal with issues of undocumented immigrants since they face such a hard time travelling to the United States? Should innocent children be targeted by ICE?

I plan to integrate our class articles titled “Think you know ICE?” and also, the video titled “Baby Constantin” into my research paper. I will also incorporate the article “Know your Rights; Immigrant Rights” I will use this articles and video to show that undocumented people are being treated inhumanely and young children are being targeted.

The article titled “1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees” defines the concept of the 1951 convention. According to the article, a refugee is defined as a person who is unable to return to their country of origin because they fear being prosecuted for reasons out of their control such as race, ethnicity, religion and political affiliation.
The article gives a clarification about the 1951 convention. The convention states that refugees will not be targeted because of race, sex, religion, political affiliation or disability. The refugee convention was administered in 1950 to handle millions of people displaced in the aftermath of world war II.

After reading the article, I watched the short clip titled “Words Matter” by Define America. The video bashed the media for portraying the image that undocumented immigrants are illegal. It was noted in the video that this is not a crime but in fact a civil offence. A fact sheet was also provided which is an excellent tool for educating people that overstaying on a visa, or being an illegal immigrant is not a crime but a civil offence.

After reading the article titled “Justice Department: ’Use Illegal Aliens’, Not Undocumented” written by Tal Kopan and published by CNN, talks about the justice department instructing officers to use the term “illegal aliens” instead of undocumented immigrants”. Illegal immigrants gives the perception that the individual committed a criminal offence whereby undocumented gives the perception that the individual does not have the legal paperwork necessary to live and work in the country. I cannot recall any instances where migrant were called refugees in media or government rhetoric. I think that the DOJ encouraged the use of the words because from their perspective not having legal documents to live and work, makes a person “illegal”.

Grade 3.5/5

The article titled “An International Analysis of Governmental Media Campaigns to Deter Asylum Seekers” by Professor Sarah Bishop was quite a fascinating one to read. it shows how the government in three different continents make use of the media to show their deterrence policies. In my opinion, I think the article provided a deep analysis of the videos titled “No Way”, “Stricter Asylum Regulations in Norway and “Know the Facts” campaign. The videos helped me to understand that European nations were against illegal immigration. In the video titled “no Way”, it gives a very clear message that Australia does not welcome illegal immigrants, whether it be teachers, students or healthcare workers. In the videos it shows that the people of the European nations shows no remorse for asylum seekers.

I enjoyed reading Professor Bishop’s article, however I would have included more in depth. information about history and also how these campaigns would have been successful.

Question: Do you think that the American government is following in the footsteps of Europe when it comes to Asylum refugees?

Grade3/5

My family moved to the United States in search of a better life almost twenty years ago. They faced a lot of challenges to move here and worked endlessly to provide a better life for my brother and I.

While listening to the podcasts and understanding the dangers and challenges that families and young children face, it made me remember the challenges I faced moving to the USA. After watching “Baby Constantin” by Caitlin Dickerson, I felt very emotional to see that an innocent child was separated from his family at the border at just four months old. At such a tender age, it must have been very traumatizing for him and his parents, not knowing whether he would be treated properly and fed. This was one of the sad cases which shocked a judge and he called for a wakeup call.

Question: Shouldn’t there be an age limit when targeting families at the borders instead of traumatizing young innocent lives?

Grade:3.5/5

The videos “Immigration Nation Episode 1: Installing Fear” and “Think you Know ICE”, were two interesting videos which gave me a new perspective on how ICE operates. The first video shows a negative side of ICE whereas the short video shows a positive side of ICE portraying them as heroes.

The video titled “Installing. Fear’: on Netflix helped me to understand better how the Immigration and Customs Enforcement operated after President Trump signed an executive order to have illegal immigrants across the country removed. Before watching this video, I never knew that ICE had to undergo special training to have illegal immigrants removed. It was also very sad for me to see the process of having illegal immigrants detained; especially. Young children. The video was very emotional to watch and see the fear and sadness in people’s eyes. ICE was always known for detaining illegal. Immigrants; but only those who committed criminal acts. Now, with the new executive order which Trump signed ICE is detaining innocent people who are just working hard to earn an honest living.

The second video however shows ICE in a more positive view. The video shows ICE committing heroic acts that saved people from fraud and theft.

3/5