Brenda Bazán

Many young people have been united by protests against this unethical violence towards innocent lives.

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Families being ripped apart, with a trendy song and flashy cuts, was posted on the official White House TikTok captioned, “Ah, that deportation feeling.” 

Unprofessional, insensitive, and cruel. 

These were the first words that came to my mind when this vile video popped up on my feed. The destruction of lives, because of a prejudice towards Black and brown people, is nothing to celebrate. At the least, this was an extremely poor media stunt. 

Ever since President Donald Trump started his first term in 2016, it has become increasingly evident how much racism is carried in his beliefs in how he governs the U.S.A. Now, with the increase of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, they have been targeting undocumented people, specifically Black and brown people. It has become a national emergency for people of these groups. 

These violent attacks have become inhumane, the far right’s logic for this being that these “illegal aliens” are ruining our country by committing many heinous crimes and terrorizing the streets. In reality, it’s the opposite. 

A recent study run by Ran Ambramitski found that immigrants have lower incarceration rates: 35.5 fewer crimes are committed for every 100,000 people who are undocumented (American Immigration Council). So why, being as it is less likely for immigrants to commit crimes, are they blamed for illegal activity?

The answer is quite simple, really: racial bias. Deeply rooted in our society is the idea that people of color are automatically to blame for multiple mistakes that occur. Many ignorant people immediately assume that Latinos in North America are not legally here, and so they must be committing crimes. 

Many of the people ICE has detained are quite literally already U.S. citizens. The only reason they have for harassing these people is the fact that they don’t look white-passing. Along with this, the people who are in the country undocumented have only committed the crime of not going through the proper steps to get the correct papers. 

People come from other countries to the U.S. in search of better opportunities and a new life. But far-right Republicans can’t shake the idea that these people are evil and must be punished. In actuality, ICE has become cruel under the Trump administration, and the various TikToks and statements being put out, joking about the matter, only amplify this point. 

This is not how a government should be run. In fact, this is so far beyond normal. An edit, doing a trend targeted towards a younger audience, flaunting the assault and brutality towards people, is nothing short of heartless. Deportation tears apart families, ruins lives, and affects humans more than anyone could imagine. Arrest can be done without abuse, but somehow, ICE gets away with it. 

73.6% of people held in ICE detention have no criminal conviction (traceport.org). 

This is unlawful arrest. The only crime these people are detained for is the crime of being brown. There is no reason for these innocent people to be deported, yet Republicans are all for this movement. 

These people are not criminals. 

And of the percentage that is, it is much less than half of the people that aren’t. Statistically, immigrants are less likely to commit crimes, as I stated before. 

Our country is supposed to be a land of opportunity. With a rich mix of culture, the U.S. is a more beautiful place with all the immigrants here. What goes unsaid is the amount of work immigrants do to help our economy. The jobs citizens don’t want to do, they do them with no complaint. They are hardworking, and above all, they are people too—humans with lives, dreams, ambitions, and families. 

Glorifying the destruction of this amazing diversity that’s been built on immigration is nothing short of vicious. 

Not one human is illegal on stolen land.