Walking Papers: How ICE’s Tactics Echo Black Identification Harassment

Yes, Black folk, WE need to be concerned with what is happening around immigration too. There is this perception that the only people who have to worry about ICE raids and immigration reform are folks outside of our communities. But that is not true.

According to the ACLU of Pennsylvania, over 70% of Black immigrants have lawful permanent residency, work visas, refugee programs, and asylum. About 1 in 5 Black immigrants work in essential industries like healthcare, transportation, and service industries. Black immigrants make up about 3% of Pennsylvania’s total population.

But one statistic that is too often overlooked that is detrimental to Black communities is, despite representing only 7% of non-citizens in the US, Black immigrants make up 20% of people facing deportation. Black people are one-fifth of all people who face being forced out of the country despite representing less than one-tenth of all non-citizens. Immigration IS our concern and the data is a reminder that when it comes to these nuanced topics, it pays to hold space for that nuance, otherwise, we risk being misinformed.

As we have witnessed over the past few months, immigration officers aren’t exactly speaking to everyone equally. There are already too many stories of incidents where officers have detained folks who are in the country legally or are citizens. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for these detentions outside of what appears to be true: ICE is detaining people who “don’t look like they belong here.”

The targeting by law enforcement of people based on their appearances is nothing new in this country. There is an unfortunately long history of it, especially affecting Black communities.

Demanding that marginalized peoples be able to produce identification or paperwork no matter what they are doing is not a new idea or concept. During the centuries of state-sponsored human trafficking that built this nation, also known as slavery, producing papers as a person in a Black body, liberated or trafficked, was essential. As liberated folks, Black people were sometimes forced to prove they were indeed free or risk being kidnapped and human trafficked. Meanwhile, trafficked folks were not merely free to roam the communities without some form of documentation. Whether they were being sent on an errand or visiting their family, Black trafficked people were required to have documentation, otherwise, they risked bodily harm, even death. Oftentimes, the people demanding these papers from Black people were not in any position of authority, but the danger to Black people’s lives was imminent.

That tradition persists. How many stories have we in our own lifetimes heard about people, officers or otherwise, demanding identification from Black people who were simply minding their business? Black people merely driving through suburban neighborhoods. A man keying into his own apartment. A Black family who went to swim at their own community pool. A student who fell asleep in a study hall. A teen walking through his own neighborhood. A family grilling at a park. A man on a walk. The incessant need to police Black folks who are guilty of simply existing in spaces by demanding their identification remains pervasive.

It is that same need to police the Black presence that harasses, berates, or detains anyone perceived to “not belong” due to their race. Black people are not free from these deterrents because we were among the first group of peoples to be harassed by it. How these agents treat immigrants is a byproduct of how enforcement first treated us. Whether it is a family being harassed at a pool by their neighbor or citizens being detained by immigration officials, that same perception puts marginalized people in danger.

We absolutely should be concerned when we see people being snatched off the street, whether they are Black or not, not solely because of the shared history and current experiences with this type of harassment, but also, at any given moment, this same type of harassment could turn to us and our communities. The facts remain that while we should not need our walking papers to exist, we should also not turn away from the fights in immigration. Our fight is the immigration fight. A nuanced view of it all backed with a historical context is our only weapon against misinformation that would keep us believing otherwise.