ICE's "Most Dangerous Game" - A Grim Reality Hidden in Plain Sight
📰 THE STORY: The New Arab features a cartoon by Emad Hajjaj titled "ICE's Most Dangerous Game," artistically portraying US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as engaging in a cruel, dehumanizing hunt. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: This 'game' is not new. In 1954, the US government conducted 'Operation Wetback,' deporting over a million Mexican immigrants (many of
whom were US citizens) through paramilitary tactics, a chilling precursor to modern ICE operations. Later, policies like the 1996 IRIRA Act laid the groundwork for mandatory detention and expedited deportations, fueling the growth of the private prison industry. The 1994 ‘Operation Gatekeeper’ militarized the US-Mexico border, pushing migrants into deadly desert crossings, leading to thousands of
deaths. Double Standard: While the US decries human rights abuses in countries it seeks to destabilize (e.g., Venezuela, Russia, China), its own domestic immigration policies, often involving family separation, indefinite detention, and deaths in custody, are rarely framed as systemic human rights violations by mainstream Western media. The suffering of migrants at US borders is frequently
'othered' or blamed on the migrants themselves, while crises abroad are attributed to 'authoritarian regimes.' Follow the Money: The 'game' is highly profitable. Companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group, major players in privatized detention facilities, generated billions in revenue from government contracts, including with ICE, with CoreCivic reporting over $1.7 billion in revenue in 2023. Lobbying