Indefensible: Stories of People Resisting Deportation

Over the past twenty years, more than 4.5 million people have been deported from the United States, almost eight times more than in the previous 20 years. Extremely harsh immigration laws took the hallmarks of the War on Crime — mandatory sentencing, hyper-policing, and mass imprisonment — and extended these punitive measures to target immigrants. Detention and deportation became mandatory for a wide range of past criminal offenses, and immigrants were stripped of many basic rights, including the right to a fair day in court. (Read more about the 1996 laws here.) The climate of fear fueled by the War on Terror has justified the massive diversion of federal funding to police, imprison and exile immigrants has created the world’s largest detention and deportation system.

President Donald Trump has heightened the threat to human rights and fairness including his plans to vastly expand immigration police force and further limit the due process rights of immigrants. The new administration has effectively named all immigrants as a threat worthy of deportation, while particularly demonizing those who are arrested or convicted of a wide range of criminal offenses.

Our podcast showcases the stories of people who are directly facing this reality. But they’re not sitting back. Instead many are standing up and speaking out. Hide full description

Over the past twenty years, more than 4.5 million people have been deported from the United States, almost eight times more than in the previous 20 years. Extremely harsh immigration laws took the hallmarks of the War on Crime — mandatory sentencing, hyper-policing, and mass imprisonment — and extended these punitive measures to target immigrants. Detention and deportation became mandatory for a wide range of past criminal offenses, and immigrants were stripped of many basic rights, including the right to a fair day in court. (Read more about the 1996 laws here.) The climate of fear fueled by the War on Terror has justified the massive diversion of federal funding to police, imprison and exile immigrants has created the world’s largest detention and deportation system.

President Donald... Show full description