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NEW ABOLITIONISM: Ending Civil Immigration Detention and Criminalization— Policy, History, and Legal Strategies

The Western New England University Law Review 2021 Symposium will explore various arguments that challenge the systemic use of civil detention of migrants and asylum seekers entering the United States. This includes critical examination of the history of immigration-related detention, the humanitarian crisis that has developed at the U.S./Mexican border in recent years, and discussion of legal strategies and policy initiatives to radically reimagine the normative use of civil immigration detention system that incarcerates and detains more than 50,000 immigrants daily and over 400,000 yearly. Topics under consideration include, but are not limited to, how the new abolitionism can address family separation caused by Trump’s “zero-tolerance” and detention policies, exorbitant bond requirements ordered by the immigration courts, mistreatment of asylum seekers, and the horrific detention conditions for migrants and asylum seekers that have further deteriorated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The inhumane treatment of migrants underscores the urgent need to radically rethink immigrant detention and develop immigration policy that safeguards the dignity and rights of migrants.

Free and open to the public.

For the full list of panelists and schedule, please visit: wne.edu/law/law-review or the Western New England Law Review's Facebook page.