Ximena Ramirez Villanueva
BA Sociology & International Development Studies
BLUE Residency
|
Fall
2020
Dismantling migrant incarceration: A prison abolitionist approach to US detention policy
BLUE Residency
Fall
2020

Background

I am a Joint Honours student in Sociology and International Development Studies. Although interested by an array of topics, I've concentrated my research for the past few years on the sociology of crime, the intricacies of migration, and imperialism. My Building 21 project analyzes the criminalization of migration in the United States through a prison abolitionist perspective. The belief in abolition is first and foremost philosophical. It is a desire for a society that centers freedom and justice, instead of profit and punishment. It is through this lens that we argue that the growing number of migrants who are incarcerated in immigrant detention centers, as well in jails and prisons, can be halted by dismantling the process that punishes people for their failure to enter the United States without documents. I bring many questions with me to Building 21: Would the decriminalization of migration through the abolition of border security alongside community investment create a safer world? What are borders if not determined by their security? Ultimately, can we build a safe world without borders?

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