Migrants: Locked up and forgotten? How U.S. citizens hold the key

According to Immigration lawyer César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, the dissolving of immigration prisons in the U.S. is a good first step towards mending our immigration system.

As a child and south Texas native living in the borderlands near the Rio Grande, Hernández says that he "was used to regular and frequent border crossings."

He said his family was of two worlds. It wasn’t until later, when he finished his law degree, and visited other areas near the U.S. border, that he realized that his childhood was unique.

He also discovered the existence of detention facilities…

In this episode of Speakers Forum, Hernández discusses his new book 'Migrating to Prison: America’s Obsession with Locking Up Immigrants'.

In it, he explores the dawn of U.S. detention facilities and a time in history when the U.S. shut down its immigration prisons.

He also shares stories of individuals affected by the current U.S. immigration system, and in so doing, petitions for the complete elimination of migrant detention facilities.

Hernández argues that Americans truly examine the actions and treatment of migrants. He calls a for complete re-imagining of how Americans determine who belongs in the United States.

César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández is an immigration lawyer and law professor at the University of Denver. He runs the blog crimmigration.com which focuses on immigration law and policy issues.

This event was presented by Town Hall Seattle on December 9, 2019. The talk was recorded by Jennie Cecil Moore.