The INS

The INS: Another “front” in the “war” on crime

After a brief flurry of reports in the local press a few months ago, the repressive tactics of the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) seems to be off the spectrum of commentary and discussion. The local publicity involved a Awar of words@ between the U.S. Attorney, Kathren Landreth, Gary Peck of the ACLU and representatives of the Federal Public Defenders office concerning the Adeportation@ frenzy carried out by our government (I=m using Aour@ government rather loosely here). It seems as if, during the current climate of fear, hatred and scapegoating, among the favorite targets are so-called Aillegal@ immigrants - or in fact anybody not born here (there=s a irony here, to which I will return shortly).

Barely touched upon in the discussion was (and continues to be) the social and political context of the INS deportation efforts. I will turn to this context shortly. First, a few horrendous horror stories will serve as examples of the police-state tactics of the INS and other law enforcement agencies. These illustrations are taken from an absorbing book that ought to be read by all concerned with basic human rights and freedom. (Including those of you who have been among the millions who have seen The Patriot, starring Mel Gibson. The overall message of what Afreedom@ really means was totally missing from this, mostly revenge, war, blood and guts film.) The book is by Christian Parenti, and it is called Lockdown America: Police and Prisons in the Age of Crisis (Verso, 1999).

In a carefully researched and documented narrative, Parenti notes that the upsurge in deportation cases came about following a special project known as AIntegrated Interior Enforcement.@ Apparently the INS was bothered by the presence of so many Aillegal aliens@ living and working in the Ainterior@ territories of the United States, far inland from the traditional trouble spots along the border. (Now about that irony: the term Aillegal alien@ is quite an oxymoron, since we are talking about Mexican people and they were in this part of the country long before any Anglos were. If anyone is an Aalien@ we white folks are!) An annual budget of $4 billion (another part of that huge Acrime control industry@ I’ve been talking about) is allotted for this project, which pays for 24,000 agents and plenty of military-type hardware (remember, this is a Awar@ here). The results: the number of deportations doubled between 1996 and 1997 alone, while the number of people held in various detention centers (newspeak for Ajails@) rose by 70% during this same period.

What are the Acrimes@ being committed here? Are we being protected from vicious killers and rapists? Who are the victims and whose interests are being served? Would it surprise you if I said that most of the Acrimes@ are relatively minor, mostly drugs, and in fact no crimes at all, except for the crime of being a Latino or perhaps a variation of ADWB@ (driving while black) known as ADWL@ (driving while Latino). In many, if not most, cases the INS will hold someone in jail pending a deportation hearing, after which he or she will be exported back to the country from which they came - even if they have not lived there for many years! Numerous very disturbing cases have occurred all over the country. The tactics used by law enforcement (often a cooperative effort between the INS and local police or sheriffs) remind one of the SS of Nazi Germany. Some examples provided by Parenti include:

< July 27, 1997: 30 local cops and six Border Patrol agents engaged in a massive roundup in Chandler, Arizona, stopping Latino drivers and pedestrians at random, engaging in warrantless searches, going from house-to-house in the wee hours of the morning, interrogating everyone, including children going to school. A total of 432 were rounded up. Included among those stopped was Arizona=s highest-ranking amateur golfer and those whose families had lived in the US for 150-200 years. Several were beaten by agents.

< In September, 1998 Texas INS agents put together a list of immigrants with prior convictions for Aaggravated felonies@ and, in operation called AOperation Last Call,@ went on a state-wide rampage, rounding up over 500 immigrants. The most serious charge for most was three or more DUI convictions; one man, a construction contractor in Mesquite, Texas, whose most recent Acrime@ was a DUI conviction 6 years earlier; another was a father of four children, a steel worker, who was born in Mexico, but came to the US as a child; he was permanently deported.

< In some cases, the INS targets white people, as they did when they went after a white, middle class former community college teacher in Portland, who made the mistake of being born in Canada and who made the even worse mistake of failing to fill out a two-page immigration form after one of his frequent visits to Canada (he was deported).

As Parenti notes, this is part of the state=s response to global economic restructuring that has occurred in recent years. One consequence is the continued migration from the countryside to the cities as people from South of the American border. Corporations continue to search for cheap labor in order to maximize their profits. Any attempt on the part of these low-wage workers to protest their horrible working conditions and low pay (and we’ve heard many stories of Asweatshops@ making a comeback and small children working in the fields and factories) results in immediate repression. As the economy continues to benefit mostly a small few, the state will continue to seek out convenient scapegoats for problems created by rich corporations. Currently it is mostly immigrants from south of the Border, the so-called Aillegal aliens.@ But this can=t last forever and soon others will be found. Will it be you and I?