APIs Behind Bars – Incarceration and Immigration Detention

Immigrants are the fastest growing population of prisoners in today’s prison system. Sixty-five percent of API prisoners in California are immigrants and refugees. The growth of the prison industrial complex has paralleled a surge in deportations and immigration detention resulting in a disastrous impact on API communities. The Obama administration has prioritized deporting immigrants with criminal convictions. Since 1996, Congress has stripped away the rights of immigrants with criminal convictions by eliminating certain discretionary waivers, subjecting individuals to indefinite detention, expanded the definition of an “aggravated felony,” and removed judicial review and discretion from Judges.

Programs like Secured Communities aimed at attrition through enforcement result in more immigrants in jail while racially profiling anyone who appears to be undocumented.

How does the immigrant detention issue reshape how we think about the prison system and racial profiling of people of color?

How will the overcrowding crisis in California’s prison system affect the immigration detention system?

What is the impact on the API community as the Obama administration deports a record number of immigrants?