"Border enforcement structure predates Trump.” - Harsha Walia
A conversation with Harsha Walia, author of "Border and Rule" on the history of ICE, border imperialism, settler colonialism, and normalization of violence towards migrants.
Tomorrow, January 23rd, Minnesota revolts. Friday will be “ICE Out of Minnesota: Day of Truth & Freedom,” an unprecedented, state-wide general strike organized collectively by community organizers, activists, unions, faith leaders and lawmakers. The people of Minnesota have been forced into a state of siege as ICE agents, armed to the gills and hungry for violent encounters, roam the streets targeting anyone and everyone.
The murder of Renee Good in the bright light of day, in Minneapolis, has sparked outrage across the US. However, this is a culmination of the past several months of an escalation in the war on migrants and in policing practices. The stories of Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk and Kilmar Ábrego García were early signs that an escalation in abductions and brutalization was coming. ICE now appears to be wielding spectacular levels of power and unleashing daily violence on a new scale. Author and activist Harsha Walia, who has followed and written about borders and migrations for several years, is horrified at what she is seeing but not entirely surprised by this escalation.
I spoke with Walia a few days ago in hopes of better understanding ICE’s recent iteration. In our podcast, she offers a history of ICE while insisting on enlarging the scope of the conversation through insights on border imperialism, settler colonialism, and the normalization of violence against migrants worldwide. Walia spoke at length about the US bipartisan strategy of beefing up borders that predates Trump by over two decades. The Clinton, Obama and Biden administration have poured billions of dollars into the militarization at the border as well as increased inland enforcement.
Funnily, the podcast was recorded a few days before Canadian PM Mark Carney’s much lauded speech that conveniently left out Gaza. Walia, who lives and works in Canada, breaks down Canada’s role in sharp harsh migration policies that are model for countries everywhere. The US is, without doubt, the worst offender but she asks that we open our eyes because “Canada has always championed itself as the junior partner to American imperialism, it’s like the good cop to the US.”
Walia is heartened by the resistance and the calls to dismantle ICE but reminds us that it is a long road ahead. “There are over 17,000 agencies that have jurisdiction over migrants in the United States.” Any of these could be empowered if ICE is gone. “So it’s about understanding that it’s not about abolishing ICE. It’s about abolishing the system and the power that ICE upholds.”
You can watch the conversation here on YouTube or listen here. I also recommend Walia’s brilliant book Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism. Buy here.
Love and solidarity❤️🔥
Bhakti Shringarpure
Powerful framing of this as culmimation rather than sudden shift. Walia's point about 17,000 jurisdictions really underscores why "abolish ICE" misses the systematic nature of border violence. I covered refugee policy briefly in grad school and the bipartisan escalation across Clinton-Obama-Biden is something mainstream media barely acknowledges. The Canada comparison as "junior partner" hits differnt when you realize how global this apparatus really is.