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Beginning yesterday, large numbers of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents swept through Durham and other locations in the Triangle. As they have in other communities, uniformed, heavily armed agents appeared to select targets through racial profiling. As this operation continues, many members of the Duke community, including housekeeping, construction, food services, and medical staff, are at risk of being detained, separated from their families, and subjected to physical and psychological violence, primarily because of the color of their skin.
The current federal administration argues that these operations keep us safe from “violent criminals.” In fact, many detainees are guilty of nothing more than being brown-skinned and going to the grocery store, or to drop their kids at school. Agents–often wearing masks and refusing to identify themselves–are engaging in well-documented violations of both constitutional and human rights, including illegal searches and seizures, beatings, and attacks against peaceful protestors. separating families, and denying human dignity in immigration detention centers.
Human rights history, from Argentina to Syria to Kenya, teaches us that when unidentified agents kidnap people off the streets, they are not keeping ordinary citizens safe. Their purpose is to demonstrate the lawless overreach of the state, and to spread fear and silence–especially amongst the most vulnerable.
According to NPR, over 20 people have died this year in detention or as agents pursued them. Ordinary activities, from construction projects to kids attending school, are disrupted–and with them, the rights to education, safety, and participation in cultural life. Yesterday and today in the Triangle, neighbors stayed home from work; restaurants closed to protect staff; and parents kept kids home from school out of fear of being grabbed at the pickup line.
The Duke Human Rights Center@FHI condemns these tactics wherever they are used. We stand in solidarity with students, staff, and faculty at Duke who are vulnerable and afraid, and with our other neighbors in Durham, especially the immigrant families that are an essential part of our collective strength and flourishing.
For more information and ways to support community safety in Durham, see durhamresistance.com/noice
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