{"id":46121,"date":"2024-12-06T09:05:08","date_gmt":"2024-12-06T16:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/?p=46121"},"modified":"2024-12-10T11:16:50","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T18:16:50","slug":"participatory-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/participatory-defense\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Participatory Defense\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I remember being struck in July by one of the signs delegates and other attendees of the Republican National Convention gleefully waved ceilingward inside Milwaukee\u2019s Fiserv Forum as speakers frothed onstage about the party\u2019s stance on immigration. \u201cMass deportation now!\u201d read the sea of star-spangled, red, white and blue placards.\u00a0

That seems like a long time ago, but the sentiment behind those signs has begun to harden since President-elect Donald Trump won on Nov. 5. His proposed appointments to several key immigration-related positions \u2014 particularly Tom Homan, who will serve as Trump\u2019s \u201cborder czar\u201d \u2014 have crystalized the message in the intervening weeks: The plan is to deport all 11 million people who are in the country undocumented.\u00a0

As a border state, this shift in rhetoric and policy on immigration has profound implications for New Mexico. So, we wanted to get a sense of how the change will play out here, and we are grateful to Sophia Genovese, managing attorney at the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, for coming back on our show to help explain.\u00a0

At the beginning of our conversation, Sophia sketched the lay of the land by offering a bit of context. Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden created categories of people to direct their immigration law enforcement. The first were newly arrived asylum seekers; the other, undocumented people who had contact with criminal law enforcement inside the US.\u00a0

Of course, anyone living in the US undocumented was and remains at risk of removal, Sophia pointed out, but \u201cunder Obama and Biden, because they focused their resources, they were able to deport many more people\u201d during their presidencies than was Trump the first time he occupied the White House. That\u2019s because Trump got rid of the categories and made everyone a priority. This led to workplace raids, families being separated, detained and forced into removal proceedings \u2014 but fewer deportations. \u00a0

\u201cI anticipate that same thing happening come [Inauguration Day in] January as suddenly everyone is a priority for enforcement again, and that clogs the system,\u201d Sophia told me. \u201cIt\u2019s incredibly scary, but logistically it is impossible to deport 11 million undocumented people.\u201d\u00a0

These logistics may come to the chagrin of those convention goers in Wisconsin, but they are facts.
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As she has in each of her appearances on New Mexico in Focus, Sophia laid out the truth alongside some solutions.\u00a0

\u201cCommunities need to be prepared to fight back against enforcement, fight back against detention and deportation, but also be very clear-eyed about what is logistically possible,\u201d she said.\u00a0

Near the end of our conversation, Sophia added some color to the picture of what fighting back could look like in this space. She told the story of a woman she represented in a deportation case when she was working in New York and New Jersey \u2014 a woman who won her freedom and her right to fight for status through something called \u201cparticipatory defense.\u201d For those not familiar with the concept, I encourage you to watch my interview with Sophia. \u00a0

\u201cShe was released not as a result of any legal advocacy I did as her lawyer,\u201d Sophia said. \u201cIt was the community pressure demanding her release from detention that got her out. And so this type of sustained organizing from ordinary folks all across the state is going to be critical as we interrupt the deportation system, interrupt the detention system. You don\u2019t need any specialized skills to do this; you just need to stand up and use your voice.\u201d\u00a0

-Jeff Proctor, Executive Producer<\/p>\n\n\n\n