Our Statements

6-8-2020

UNDOCUCAROLINA STATEMENT ON THE MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD

UndocuCarolina stands with protests across the country in memory of George Floyd and against his murder at the hands of the Minneapolis police. We stand with all those who raise their voices under the inclusive and dignity-affirming banner of Black Lives Matter. We affirm that the lives of Black women like Breonna Taylor matter and that the lives of Black immigrants like Donovan Grant—who led a hunger strike during the COVID-19 crisis while detained at Mesa Verde Detention Facility—matter.   

We acknowledge the connection between immigration enforcement, racialized policing, and mass incarceration. Three decades of mass incarceration through the prison industrial complex have numbed us to the application of these tools in immigration policing. The connections are raw and plain to see: Black communities in the United States are more likely than any other to be surveilled, arrested, and targeted for deportation. 7.2% of the undocumented population in the US is Black, yet 20.3% of people facing deportation for criminal charges are Black. Black immigrants do not only face a xenophobic immigration system, but they also contend daily with a police state that criminalizes and kills them. Immigration enforcement is anti-Black. 

The murder of George Floyd calls to a felt solidarity with the lived experiences of Black communities, who are targeted for arbitrary profiling, violence, and deportation—while sleeping, while jogging, while birdwatching. From the police officers in Asheville, North Carolina who destroy water bottles at anti-racist demonstrations, to the Border Patrol agents who vandalize life-saving supplies, we are alert to the the connections between racist policing and racist immigration enforcement. Indeed, in recent days, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents have deployed to the nation’s capitol to suppress protests and “assist law enforcement partners.”   

Immigrant rights and sanctuary movements have long looked to the Black civil rights struggle for inspiration and leadership. Some of the most vocal supporters of immigrant justice, especially here in the South, have been African American leaders. As we prepare for the Supreme Court decision on the rescission of DACA this month, we will continue to follow the leadership of Black organizers and activists since George Floyd’s murder. At least 10,000 young Black DACA recipients stand to lose their status in a country they have devoted their lives to serving. We pledge to fight for the dignity of all people trapped in a culture of militarized policing, from our northern cities to our southern border.