Open Thread: Homeland Security and Racism
by Latoya Peterson
While skimming through my news feeds, I noticed this article in the New York Times:
After federal border agents detained several Mexican immigrants in western New York in June, an article about the incident in a local newspaper drew an onslaught of vitriolic postings on its Web site. Some were racist. Others attacked farmers in the region, an apple-growing area east of Rochester, accusing them of harboring illegal workers. Still others made personal attacks about the reporter who wrote the article.
Most of the posts were made anonymously. But in reviewing the logs of its Internet server, the paper, The Wayne County Star in Wolcott, traced three of them to Internet protocol addresses at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees border protection.
Yeah, now I feel *really* secure.
Discuss amongst yourselves.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
johnjihoonchang wrote:
In my dealings with DHS (Customs & Border Patrol, in particular), each local unit seems to have a different culture. Consequently, we’d often advise foreign nationals to return to the US (from Mexico/Canada) through certain posts more than others and certain airports tend to be less hostile than others too.
I’d imagine that much of the DHS hostility probably comes from the CBP, since they have more frequent confrontational dealings with foreign nationals, more than the CIS (Citizenship and Immigration Services), who have not given our foreign nationals too hard a time, except when red flags go up.
Just a perspective from someone who has previously worked in immigration.
Posted 28 Jul 2009 at 12:18 pm ¶
Becky wrote:
This doesn’t surprise me at all, unfortunately. My parents live only a couple miles from a Canadian border crossing in Minnesota, and some friends and I went up to Winnipeg for a day. On the way home, the US Border Patrol stopped us and almost detained my friend Brian (who happens to be of Korean decent) because the officer “could vouch for the rest of us” (white people – that we were Americans) but not for Brian. It made Brian VERY upset, completely understandably, but what can you do? You can’t argue with them, because they could detain us and make all kinds of trouble, and what would it gain us, other than a hassle? That isn’t the first or the last I’ve seen of the racism or sexism of the border patrol up there (I can’t speak to other areas), and it makes me so upset.
Posted 28 Jul 2009 at 12:51 pm ¶
CDF wrote:
ROFL!
It’s bad when you have that kind of stuff in a govt agency…sort of like Katrina/NOLA!
Posted 28 Jul 2009 at 3:33 pm ¶
inkst wrote:
This doesn’t even surprise me a little bit. My partner is from Mexico and is currently here in the US on a NAFTA work visa. Long story short, after going through all of the rigmarole at the US Embassy in Mexico to get the visa, she was harassed extensively at her entry point by the customs officer who made veiled threats against her and her family in what seemed like an effort to simply rattle her. I also know someone who broke the terms of their tourist visa and was deported – after being interrogated for 8 hours then locked in isolation overnight with only bread and water to eat. Literally. She was a 19-year old. Talk about a security threat.
Just like cops anywhere, the culture of customs agents breeds prejudice, racism, and overbearing authoritarianism, ie powertripping. None of it makes us more secure, it just beats down people who look different.
Posted 28 Jul 2009 at 4:09 pm ¶
Big Man wrote:
The Army Corp of Engineers got busted for doing the exact same thing in New Orleans. Only it was racism against the black folks displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
Posted 28 Jul 2009 at 4:21 pm ¶
Slush wrote:
Can Racialicious track our troll posts to government agencies?
[And thank you moderators for not subjecting us to the vitriol!]
Mod Note – Sometimes. Some people even leave their state government email addresses there for us to see when they are spewing their hate, which is always interesting. The weirdest one though came from someone we traced to a diversity organization…me and Carmen took action on that one. – LDP
Posted 28 Jul 2009 at 4:39 pm ¶
Julia wrote:
May I suggest, tongue in cheek, that THIS is why the terrorists will win? (and this is where my tax money is going?)
Posted 28 Jul 2009 at 4:44 pm ¶
Miles Ellison wrote:
So, the essential result of the billions of dollars that are being spent on homeland security is the rounding up of non-white people? Taxpayer money is subsidizing ignorant racist profiling disguised as security. And there are people who don’t want to spend money to provide affordable health care. I despair for this country.
Posted 29 Jul 2009 at 1:40 am ¶
Neville A. Ross wrote:
One reason why you won’t be seeing me crossing the U.S./Canada border for anything or any reason, again.
Posted 29 Jul 2009 at 11:01 pm ¶
.elise.anne. wrote:
@becky – “vouch for you” ….for real?! that is revolting.
Why does extreme ignorance, arrogrance, and racism still surprise and shock me?
Posted 30 Jul 2009 at 4:16 pm ¶
Eric Stoller wrote:
Web stats are a powerful tool for illuminating who is commenting on web sites. Unfortunately, racist/sexist/homophobic/ableist/etc comments originate from places that are supposed to be protecting us and not being part of the problem.
When my site was linked from a white supremacist website, I posted the locations of all the IP’s that visited my site as a post. Some of my more conservative readers were appalled that I did this…I felt compelled to show that racism is still prominent (unfortunately) all over the U.S.
Posted 04 Aug 2009 at 2:40 pm ¶