Camilla Forte for Borderless MagazineWe do not live in a war zone, and yet, politicians insist on weaponizing immigrants.
All eyes have been on immigrants this month.
Like many of you, our team has been bombarded with videos of masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in tactical military gear, sweeping through neighborhoods, rounding up day laborers and detaining parents during traffic stops as their children cry out.
And Borderless has been on the front lines.
Over the last few weeks, our reporters:
- Witnessed a woman detained at immigration court immediately after a judge dismissed her case;
- Documented the pleas of community members, calling for a grandmother’s release from ICE detention;
- Reported how elected officials and community groups denounced Trump’s new travel ban; and
- Covered Chicago demonstrations against Trump and ICE raids across the nation.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson called the recent attacks on immigrants “a war on democracy.”
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At Borderless, we know what we’re seeing is far from new.
Go back 70 years, and you’ll see the U.S. government carrying out “Operation Wetback,” a campaign that used miltiary-style tactics to deport hundreds of thousands of Mexican laborers. During those sweeps, immigration officials filled three planes with immigrants and flew them weekly from Chicago to Mexico, often to “unfamiliar parts” of the country, according to historians.
The rhetoric, at the time, was that Mexicans were here to steal jobs from U.S. workers, even though many were invited as part of the U.S.-Mexican Farm Labor Program a decade earlier.
More than seven decades later, we see the same rhetoric and tactics used by Trump and federal agents. As recently as this past weekend, Trump directed ICE to expand deportations in Democratic-led cities, including Chicago and New York City. These operations and the deployment of the National Guard and active military against civilians are meant to spread fear within our immigrant communities.
We do not live in a war zone, and yet, politicians insist on weaponizing immigrants.
Borderless’s predecessor, 90 Days, 90 Voices, started as a rapid response project during Trump’s first travel ban in 2017. Eight years later, that hasn’t changed. We are still reporting stories WITH and FOR our immigrant communities.
Our focus remains on the people impacted by local, state and federal immigration policies. Our team set out to tell their story in a way that keeps them safe and affirms their humanity.
For many, myself included, it’s difficult not to feel helpless. As journalists, our job is to give our communities the facts they need to understand the world around them so they can make informed decisions and live healthy lives.
Our community gives me hope at this moment. We’ve seen folks stand up to defend their family, friends, neighbors, students, and colleagues in a moment of uncertainty.
At Borderless, we are committed to serving immigrant communities, whatever the future brings. Even when the news cycle has moved on, our eyes will remain on our immigrant communities.
Bring power to immigrant voices!
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