The social worker who called ICE

Why authentic understanding still matters in the era of conspiracy theories.

At a time when more people seem to believe in the QAnon conspiracy theory than basic medical science, learning something new—like, actually learning facts about how the world works—may seem like a waste of time.

It isn’t. Especially when it comes to immigration. Here’s a story.

A few years ago, I was talking with an immigration attorney about how his clients ended up in removal proceedings. “Removal proceedings” is the official process that the government goes through in court to allege that someone is in the US unlawfully and should be deported.

The attorney shared several stories: busted tail light, domestic violence case, arrest at the border. The usual sorts of stories I had heard many times before.

But then he told me this.

One of his clients was turned into ICE by a social worker.

“How?,” I asked. I hadn’t heard of this before.

He explained: the social worker was serving the child, a US citizen, and decided that she—the social worker—wanted to advocate for the mother, as well. Knowing only that Immigration and Customs Enforcement was involved in immigration in some way but not knowing exactly how, the social worker called ICE to inquire about services. It ended with ICE putting the mother in removal proceedings.

To be clear, people who are undocumented are not eligible for social welfare programs. And ICE is not a social services agency. But that didn’t keep a social worker from making a big mistake.

Immigration enforcement is a huge sticky web that most people—even those who voice strong opinions—don’t understand very well. We can’t go back and change what happened in this particular case. But we can commit to learning more about immigration.

In this newsletter, I’ll deliver short, conversational insights on what’s going on in the world of immigration control, including current data, policy changes, new research, and critical perspectives on the immigration system.

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