UC Boulder event claims ICE and CBP is racially profiling against 'extra legal' immigrants
The event is described on a university website as focusing on how 'extra legal' individuals and visa holders are being racially profiled by federal authorities and officers.
The panel discussion asked students to 'speak your own truth.'
The University of Colorado Boulder (UC Boulder) is promoting an immigration event that accuses federal authorities of racially profiling detainees and reframes illegal immigration as “extra-legal,” a term meant to strip away the sense of criminality and recast illegal migrants as people who deserve to be in America but simply lack the right papers.
The event is titled: “Immigration: Caring for Others in Times of Need” and focuses on how “Immigration to the US has been a hot button issue over the last few decades.”
Focusing on the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement measures, the event description continues by stating that “Homeland Security has deployed ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and CBP (Custom and Border Protection) officers who have detained and deported people who are extra legal (people without proper documentation to remain in the US), visa holders, and green card holders.”
Calling them “extra-legal” instead of illegal shifts the framing: it removes the sense of criminality and instead presents them as individuals who simply lack the right papers, it reframes illegal activity as outside the law, not in opposition to it.
The first recorded use of “extra-legal” comes from Philip Hunton in 1644. He used the term to refer to actions outside the law but not automatically criminal in and of themselves.
The event focuses on a panel discussion relating to “the recent uptick in aggressive and violent detentions and deportations, which have even swept up US citizens.”
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The event description also ask a question to attendees, being: “How can we talk about immigration and a path to citizenship during a time when ICE and CBP are racially targeting those they believe do not “look” like they belong in the US?”
The event was also organized as being part of UC Boulder’s Center for Humanities & the Arts (CHA) “Difficult Dialogue Event Series.” The event series is described as being a number of panel conversations that “bring together people to discuss challenging issues from their own perspectives.”
The event was scheduled to be held in the evening at a Presbyterian Church on Monday.
The UC Boulder website adds that there are “Event Guidelines,” which include that attendees are asked to “Keep an open mind,” and “Speak your own truth.”
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The description also states that the event organizers “expect to experience discomfort when talking about hard things,” and ask attendees to “remain engaged and recognize that the discomfort can lead to problem-solving and authentic understanding.”
On a separate part of the university’s website, the university’s International Student and Scholar Services offers “Resources” relating to guidelines on what happens “If ICE Visits Your Home,” and the ACLU’s descriptions of “Immigrants’ Rights,” and seperate guidelines on “Rights at the Airport” and “Electronic Device Searches.”
Campus Reform contacted the University of Colorado Boulder for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
