As U.S. citizens we are supposed to be protected by civil rights and civil liberties. But in today’s society we are left to question if our civil rights and liberties are being protected in order for them to still protect us. With the controversial decisions being made by the current administration, there have been several events that question the law’s ability to protect us as citizens. For example, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) current methods and processes towards targeted citizens. As these events have been put on display globally through social media and other various media outlets, so have the violations of our civil rights and civil liberties.
Civil rights are the guaranteed protection that citizens have from unfair treatment (e.g., voting rights, equal access, and disability rights).
The current interactions that citizens have dealt with from ICE have led to an increase in risk for those who come from a minority background. As some Supreme Court rulings such as Noem vs. Vazquez allows agents to abuse their authority, the value of our rights have been ignored. For example, racial profiling has become an acceptable method for immigration processing. ICE agents are allowed to stop or detain citizens not only by appearance but also for their dialect of speech or presence in stereotypical work locations. ICE has also been using excessive force, unlawful arrests/detainment, and unauthorized searches of homes in their process of immigration investigations. The actions displayed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show that there is aggression and bias toward citizens that aren’t a part of the majority of the U.S. population.
Our civil liberties protect the freedoms that we have as citizens; they are provided to us through the Bill of Rights. In recent events ICE agents have consistently violated the fourth and fifth amendments. In the detainment process agents have entered and “camped” around areas known to be off-limits, such as schools, churches, and hospitals. In doing so, the Fourth Amendment has been violated by unlawful search and entry along with illegal search and seizure. There are also the conditions many face within detention camps. While in detention camps, many are sitting in inhumane living conditions and are being detained without having legal counsel available. In facilities like “Alligator Alcatraz,” there have been reports of food being infested by maggots, denial of water, denial of legal counsel, and overpopulation. As ICE’s rampage of detainment continues, many of the detainees that are reported have also been documented to be legal U.S. citizens. But the focus of ICE’s actions has only been on taking those who fit a description rather than having a civilized and rational method.
The actions displayed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents only reflect that our current government abuses their power as well. By allowing these actions to continue, we see that the constitutional freedoms that we have as citizens are being ignored. As the tactics used are a result of biased beliefs, citizens are being stripped from their homes and lives for the satisfaction of bigots. The power that our government holds today only focuses on and cares for those that are not a minority, someone seen to be different, or someone that does not share the same values or ideologies.
