Mexicans in US routinely confront legal abuse, racial profiling, ICE targeting and other civil rights violations

David FitzGerald, Angela Y. McClean, and Gustavo López in The Conversation discuss the role of racism in immigration policy and enforcement.  They write that

“as recent stories of the neglectful treatment of migrant children in government detention centers demonstrate, these civil rights are not always granted to immigrants.

We are scholars focused on U.S.-Mexico migration. Our report on the enforcement of U.S. immigration law under presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, presented in February to Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission, documented pervasive and systematic civil rights violations against Mexicans living in the United States.

Some of the abuses we documented – which include racial profiling, discriminatory treatment and due process violations – result from the Trump administration’s anti-immigration policies. Others began much earlier, under Obama or well before.

All paint a troubling picture about the rule of law in the United States and the challenges facing America’s largest immigrant group.”

KJ