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.
Sarah, this is a great topic for your final paper and I’m excited to see how it turns out. I have a suggestion–please let me know what you think about it. Instead of using the Splinter News article as your artifact how about using the ICE emails themselves as your artifact? You can find the emails linked on the Intercept story: https://theintercept.com/2017/10/04/ice-raids-trump-immigration-deportation/
That way your research question could be something like “How does this series of internal emails from ICE work to emphasize immigrant criminality and positively sway public opinion about ICE?” (crude draft but you get the idea).
Let me know what you think. I’m looking forward to reading this paper.