As part of our year-long focus on the impact(s) of policing on our culture and communities, Project NIA is organizing and co-sponsoring a series of events in 2012.
One of these is a week-long exhibition along with accompanying events that will explore the intersections between immigration, policing, and incarceration. This will take place during the week of March 19th.
We are excited to be co-sponsoring these events with our allies at Mess Hall, the Immigrant Youth Justice League and also with the Chicago PIC Teaching Collective. We are also currently reaching out to other partners for these events.
A consideration of the intersections between immigration, policing, and incarceration is particularly timely because as Carmel Melouney argues:
Illegal immigration is a growth industry for federal law enforcement. Immigration offenses were the fastest growing federal arrest offenses between 2005 and 2009, increasing at an average rate of 23 percent a year, according to statistics released by the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics.
In 2009, 84,749 people were arrested and charged with immigration offenses, up from 38,041 in 2005, the agency announced yesterday.
With 46 percent of all arrests, illegal immigration was the most common offense for an arrest in 2009, followed by drug violations, accounting for 17 percent, and supervision violations, with 13 percent.”
The chart below illustrates the points made above:
Additionally, in Illinois, the city of Crete might become home to a large new detention facility. Now is the time to educate ourselves about the issue of immigrant detention and to mobilize for action to stop it.
The centerpiece of the week of events around the topic of immigration, policing and incarceration is an exhibition featuring the work of Eroyn Franklin and in particular her zine titled Detained.
by Eroyn Franklin
Keep your eyes and ears open in the upcoming weeks for more details about all of the events!
NIA DISPATCHES 