Sangaramoorthy Op-Ed links racial and immigrant justice movements
In an Op-Ed for Latino Rebels Faculty Associate Thurka Sangaramoorthy calls for united efforts in working for immigrant rights as well as addressing problems of policing and mass incarceration. "Evidence indicates that the increasing detention of immigrants during the 1980s and 1990s in part fueled the rise in mass incarceration during this same time period," she writes. "The average daily detainee population tripled from 7,500 in 1996 to 20,500 in 2001, and by 2018 this number increased to 42,188. The estimate for 2019 is expected to surpass 45,000."
Indicating that immigrant rights "is not a single-issue struggle," she concludes, "the national discourse on immigrant rights must more clearly recognize that our criminal justice system is the main driver of family separation and child imprisonment."