Deportation of immigrants

@1tm122n22m Atma Unum

Deportation of illegal immigrants in the second presidency of Donald Trump

Trump’s deportation plan faces significant pushback as raids affect various sectors. The impact on immigrant communities sparks protests. Artivist inspire creativity and actions against racism. #Deportation #Immigration #Protest 👥✨

Donald Trump continued deportations of illegal immigrants in the United States after assuming office for a second term. Trump promised to launch “the largest deportation program in American history”, but actual numbers of ICE arrests and deportations under Trump have lagged the Biden administration.

On January 23, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began to carry out raids on sanctuary cities, with hundreds of illegal immigrants detained and deported. The Trump administration reversed previous policy and gave ICE permission to raid schools, hospitals and places of worship. The use of deportation flights by the U.S. has created pushback from some foreign governments, particularly Colombia. The Trump administration has also discussed the potential use of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to incarcerate migrants.

Fears of ICE raids have impacted agriculture, construction, and the hospitality industry. The Pew Research Center estimated the total population of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. to be 11 million in 2022.

Trump had discussed mass deportations during his presidential campaign in 2016, during his first presidency, and in his 2024 campaign.] At the time of his first campaign, approximately one-third of Americans supported the idea—but by the start of his second term, eight years later, public opinion had undergone a shift, with a majority of Americans believing all illegal immigrants should be deported.

Background

In January 2025, news outlets noted that in 35% of immigration cases, the defendants did not appear, even if there was an order for their deportation. About 3.5 million immigration cases were pending at the end of the year in 2024.

2016 campaign
In August 2015, during his 2016 campaign, Trump proposed the mass deportation of illegal immigrants as a part of his immigration policy. During his first town hall campaign meeting in Derry, New Hampshire, Trump said that if he were to win the election, then on “day 1 of my presidency, they’re getting out and getting out fast.”

Trump proposed a “Deportation Force” to carry out this plan, modeled after the 1950s-era “Operation Wetback” program during the Dwight Eisenhower administration that ended following a congressional investigation.

In June 2016, Trump stated on Twitter that “I have never liked the media term ‘mass deportation’—but we must enforce the laws of the land!” Later in June, Trump stated that he would not characterize his immigration policies as including “mass deportations”. However, on August 31, 2016, contrary to earlier reports of a “softening” in his stance, Trump laid out a 10-step plan reaffirming his hardline positions. He reiterated that “anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation”, with priority given to those who have committed significant crimes and those who have overstayed visas. He noted that all those seeking legalization would have to go home and re-enter the country legally.

First presidency (2017–2021)
During Donald Trump’s first presidency, the number of illegal immigrants deported decreased drastically. While under Trump’s presidency, U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement conducted hundreds of raids in workspaces and sent removal orders to families, they did not deport as many illegal immigrants as were deported under Obama’s presidency. In Obama’s first three years in office, around 1.18 million people were deported, while around 800,000 deportations took place under Trump in his three years of presidency. In the final year of his presidency, Trump deported an additional 186,000 illegal immigrants, bringing his total to just under 1 million for his full presidency.

Biden presidency (2021–2025)
The immigration policy Joe Biden initially focused on reversing many of the immigration policies of the previous Trump administration, before implementing stricter enforcement mechanisms later in his term. During his first day in office, Biden unveiled the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 and reversed many of Trump’s policies on immigration, such as halting the construction of the Mexico–United States border wall, travel ban, and signed an executive order to reaffirm protections for DACA recipients. The Biden administration and Department of Homeland Security, under leadership of Alejandro Mayorkas, reined in deportation practices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), prioritizing national security and violent crime concerns over petty and nonviolent offenses.

2024 campaign
The New York Times reported that Trump planned “an extreme expansion of his first-term crackdown on immigration”, including “preparing to round up undocumented people already in the United States on a vast scale and detain them in sprawling camps while they wait to be expelled”, and that it “amounts to an assault on immigration on a scale unseen in modern American history”. The New York Times also reported that Trump’s advisors are preparing a ‘blitz’ strategy designed to overwhelm immigrant-rights lawyers, and that his plans would rely on existing statutes without the need for new legislation, although such legislation would also likely be attempted. Trump’s plans are expected to encounter significant Supreme Court challenges, and engender social and economic toil, especially within the housing, agriculture, and service sectors.

During rallies, Trump has blurred the distinction between legal and illegal immigrants, and has promised to deport both. On the campaign trail in December 2023, President Donald Trump said immigrants coming to the U.S. are “poisoning the blood of our country,” a remark that quickly drew a rebuke from his chief Democratic rival as President Joe Biden’s campaign likened the words to those of Adolf Hitler.

Trump has stated he will deport between 15 and 20 million people, although the estimated number of illegal immigrants is only 11 million. The American Immigration Council says that a “highly conservative” estimate of Trump’s plan would cost at least $315 billion, or $967.9 billion over a decade, and be unworkable without massive outdoor detention camps. Economic reports from the Brookings Institution and Peterson Institute for International Economics have found that Trump’s plans would result in a decrease in employment for American-born workers and result in “no economic growth over the second Trump administration from this policy alone” while other estimates have it shrinking GDP by 4.2-6.8 percent.

Trump has also not ruled out separating families with mixed citizenship status. This could affect millions of families, with most illegal immigrants having lived in the US for more than 16 years.

Trump has stated that his plan would follow the ‘Eisenhower model,’ a reference to the 1954 campaign Operation Wetback, stating to a crowd in Iowa: “Following the Eisenhower model, we will carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.” To achieve the goal of deporting millions per year, Trump has stated his intent to expand a form of deportation that does not require due process hearings, which would be accomplished by the expedited removal authorities of 8 U.S. Code § 1225; invoking the Alien Enemies Act within the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798; and invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807 to allow the military to apprehend migrants and thus bypass the Posse Comitatus Act.

Trump would reassign federal agents to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and deputize local police officers and sheriffs, agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and National Guard soldiers volunteered by Republican-run states.

Individuals would be placed in massive camps constructed with funds redirected from the military budget in case of any refusal by Congress to appropriate funding. ICE raids would be expanded to include workplace raids and sweeps in public places. Following arrest, Stephen Miller has stated that illegal immigrants would be taken to “large-scale staging grounds near the border, most likely in Texas”, to be held in internment camps prior to deportation. Trump told a rally audience in September 2024 that the deportation effort “will be a bloody story.” He has also spoken of rounding up homeless people in blue cities and detaining them in camps. The Trump team will also attempt to overturn the Flores settlement that prevents the indefinite holding of children.

Trump has promised to reinstate his ban on entry to individuals from certain Muslim-majority nations, and have the Centers for Disease Control reimpose COVID-era restrictions on asylum claims by asserting migrants carry infectious diseases such as the flu, tuberculosis, and scabies. Trump has said he would build more of the border wall, and move thousands of troops currently stationed overseas to the southern border.

Other proposals include revoking temporary protected status for individuals living in the United States, including Afghans who moved to America following the 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, while those who helped U.S. forces would be ‘re-vetted’ to see if they really did; ending birthright citizenship for babies born in the United States to undocumented parents; using coercive diplomacy by making immigration cooperation a condition for any bilateral engagement; reinstating ‘Remain in Mexico’; and reviving ‘safe third country’ status with several nations in Central America, and expanding it to Africa, Asia, and South America.

Trump’s campaign has stated his intention to expel DACA recipients after his previous attempt failed in 2020 by a 5–4 vote in the Supreme Court in Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California. Trump’s campaign has not stated whether they will reinstate Trump’s former child separation policies.

In October 2024, Trump proposed a plan for recruiting and retaining U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents; his plan included a 10 percent wage increase for the agents, $10,000 retention and signing bonuses, and hiring 10,000 new agents.

Arrests

Implementation actions

Trump set a goal of 1,200 to 1,500 ICE arrests per day, but his administration has largely failed to meet these targets. Trump’s administration saw about 800 ICE arrests per day after he took office in January, declining to fewer than 600 arrests per day in February, at which point ICE stopped publishing daily statistics. Trump’s rates of arrests lag those of both the Obama and Biden administrations, despite ICE officers working extra shifts and being given arrest quotas. Trump’s relatively low rate of immigration enforcement has been attributed to limitations in ICE resources and staffing, as well as a dramatic decrease in the number of migrants illegally crossing the US-Mexico border since Trump took office.

On January 19, 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported that Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Antonio and Washington, D.C. were potential targets for ICE arrests.

The Republican governors of 26 states (Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming) “remain fully committed to supporting the Trump Administration’s efforts to deport dangerous criminals”.

On January 22, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the administration was rolling back an Obama-era directive that had protected illegal immigrants in sensitive areas such as hospitals, places of worship, courtrooms, funerals, weddings and schools. A spokesperson stated that the Trump administration was not looking to tie the hands of law enforcement.

On January 23, 2025, the DHS authorized federal law enforcement personnel from numerous federal agencies to assist in carrying out Trump immigration policies. A memo from acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman provided “the functions of an immigration officer” to several law enforcement agencies within the Justice Department, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshals Service. The memo, addressed to acting attorney general James McHenry, noted that FBI agents have a role for arrests related to immigration, known as Title 8 authority; this authority was now conferred onto other agencies.

On January 23, high-profile ICE raids occurred in Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Miami, New York City, Newark, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., detaining 538 illegal immigrants. The mayor of Newark claimed that ICE raided a local establishment and detained illegal immigrants as well as citizens, including a veteran, without a warrant. The White House said that “The Trump Administration arrested 538 illegal immigrant criminals, including a suspected terrorist, four members of the Tren de Aragua gang, and several illegals convicted of sex crimes against minors.”

In late January 2025, Huffman sent out a memo stating that migrants admitted temporarily by the Biden administration could be removed.

The Trump administration issued a stop-work order to prevent the Office of Refugee Resettlement from funding organizations providing legal services to unaccompanied minors entering the United States; Mother Jones says the order stops legal representation for 25,000 migrant minors and education programs on rights for 100,000 others.

In the early morning of January 28, 2025, United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem joined multiple federal law enforcement agencies, including ICE, to lead a raid on illegal immigrants in New York City. Her department posted a video of the raid on X that showed an apparent arrest, later confirming the suspect was in custody on kidnapping, assault, and burglary charges with an outstanding warrant in Colorado.

Media campaign
Amid relatively low numbers of ICE arrests and deportations, Trump’s administration sought to inflate the presence of deportations in media, such as by posting images of shackled deportees on social media, manipulating google searches by updating timestamps of old ICE press releases, and allowing celebrities like Dr. Phil to accompany ICE raids.

In February 2025, the White House posted a video on social media showing immigrants in shackles being prepared for a deportation flight, along with footage of a set of handcuffs and chains jingling as they are pulled from a basket and laid out on airport tarmac next to others. The video was captioned “ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight,” and was shared by the Seattle office of ICE, along with a different caption. Responses to the video ranged, with some cheering the actions shown in the video, while others called it disgusting and dehumanizing.

Deportation

37,660 people were deported in Trump’s first month in office, including both removals and returns, far less than the monthly average of 57,000 deportations under Biden in 2024.

Flights
The United States cannot unilaterally send deportation flights to other countries; there must be an established agreement with each nation to accept the deportation flights, and they must have diplomatic ties. Some countries have largely refused to accept these flights, such as China and Cuba, as well as refusal from countries the US has no diplomatic ties to, such as Venezuela. ICE has historically utilized handcuffs and chains to return deportees, which is stated to be a protection measure; however, since the start of the 2025 deportation flights, multiple countries have raised issues with the use of handcuffs and chains. Legal and human rights observers have noted such flights, to nations possibly under tariff and other threats from the U.S. and where some migrants are detained without regular access to counsel, family communication or identity documents, may lack transparency and violate migrants’ rights.

Guatemala
Hundreds of illegal immigrants were flown out of the US by military aircraft. A defense official stated that two deportation flights, both to Guatemala, were flown out that same night with reportedly 81 deportees. Guatemalan officials later stated that the flights carried only 79 individuals.

Mexico
On January 23, 2025, Mexico denied a United States military plane the ability to land, causing the plane to never take off while two others bound for Guatemala did. Later that week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt tweeted that Mexico accepted four deportation flights in one day from the ICE Air Operations and government-chartered flights.

On February 14, 2025, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that 13,455 immigrants had been deported to Mexico, 2,970 of which did not originate from Mexico.

Colombia
On January 26, 2025, Colombian President Gustavo Petro barred two U.S. military planes carrying deported Colombian nationals from landing in the country, requesting that deportees be “treated with dignity” and sent to Colombia on civilian aircraft. Trump and Petro both threatened the other with tariffs. Later that day U.S. officials assured Colombian officials that they would not place the deportees in handcuffs nor photograph Colombian citizens aboard the flights after they were returned, and that deportees would be escorted by Department of Homeland Security officials instead of military personnel. The White House then announced that Colombia had agreed to allow the planes to land. Former Colombian president Iván Duque criticized Petro’s initial decision and stated on X; “It is urgent that the Petro government put the country above its populist prejudices and anti-US rhetoric and quickly establish protocols for receiving deported Colombians.”

Panama
Panama has agreed to accept US deportees who are originally from countries that US cannot deport directly to. These countries include Afghanistan, China, Iran, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan. Once in Panama, they are governed by Panamanian law and are treated as migrants. Several have requested to be repatriated to their countries of origin. Panama is currently housing those that do not want to be repatriated in a migrant camp. It’s not clear what their further processing will involve.

In late February 2025, lawyers representing migrants being held in the Panamanian camp expressed concern that they had not been allowed to communicate with their clients, who they said had been flown out of the U.S. without being screened for asylum. Panamanian president José Raúl Mulino told a press conference he did not know why migrants were being prevented from contacting legal counsel. On March 1 lawyers filed suit against Panama before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights charging that the U.S. violated the group’s asylum rights, challenging Panama’s authority to detain them and asking for emergency orders that none of the detainees be deported to their countries of origin. A separate suit against DHS was anticipated.

In the evening of February 12, 2025, the first of several U.S. military flights carrying deportees landed in Panama. President Mulino stated some 360 deportees/migrants would arrive on these flights, be transferred to a camp in Darién and either repatriated or moved to still other countries at U.S. expense. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) stated it was providing support to these migrants at Panama’s request, as did the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

The Panamanian government initially confined these migrants in the Decapolis Hotel. Attorneys and journalists were largely unable to contact them. Those migrants able to communicate with journalists said they were asylum seekers who feared persecution or worse if returned to their countries of origin, though U.S. Department of Homeland Security representatives claimed none had asserted such fears during U.S. processing or custody. The migrants also stated at least one of their number had attempted suicide, while another suffered injuries attempting to escape from confinement.

One of the migrants, Artemis Ghasemzadeh, a 27-year-old English teacher from Iran, said she had converted from Islam to Christianity which is a capital offense in Iran. With a pattern of persecution of Christians in Iran, Ghasemzadeh feared that she and other Iranian Christians, would face the death penalty if she were to return there and has not agreed to be repatriated. Ghasemzadeh also said a U.S. soldier who she was helping with translating information for other migrants asked her not to mention that they were being taken to Panama and that she had never been asked about or allowed to make a claim for asylum in the U.S. Matthew Soerens, U.S. Director of Church Mobilization for World Relief, noted that in 2024, “30,000 of the 100,000 refugees resettled in the U.S. were Christians fleeing persecution.” Peyman Malaz, chief operating officer of the PARS Equality Center, noted that “Those who arrive at the border are often the most persecuted and desperate, such as Iranian Christians”.

On the night of February 18, Panamanian authorities moved some 170 of the migrants to the San Vicente camp four hours from Panama City which previously housed people detained after crossing the Darien Gap. Journalists and attorneys were still unable to contact the migrants. In the meantime at least one migrant, reportedly a woman from China, escaped confinement, while another woman from Ireland voluntarily returned there. As of February 28, 2025, there were 9 additional Iranian Christian converts, including three children, detained in the camp. None have agreed to be repatriated to Iran.

Panamanian politicians and commentators raised objections to these operations, stating that they were contrary to Panamanian and international law and that Panama should not become “the Guantanamo of Central America.”

Costa Rica
In the evening of February 20, 2025, 135 migrants to the U.S. from Eastern European nations including 65 children arrived in Costa Rica. Local authorities immediately loaded them onto buses for a six-hour ride to a temporary attention center for migrants near the border with Panama. The center is a former wood products facility that had been extensively remodelled in 2017. Reportedly the U.S. would pay for their transportation while the IOM would offer assistance with any onward migration.

The office of Costa Rica’s independent ombudsman (Defender of Inhabitants) met and interviewed the migrants and issued a report detailing problems with their treatment. The ombudsman’s office claimed migrants had arrived in “visible distress” and were unaware of their destination after leaving the U.S.; were not allowed to contact overseas relatives; had their identity documents taken from them; and did not receive proper medical or other services on arrival. Costa Rica’s security minister Mario Zamora stated the migrants did receive proper care on their arrival to the temporary care center and the ombudsman’s report was based on limited contact with migrants at the airport, a contention the ombudsman rejected.

Earlier, Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves said his nation was receiving migrants from the U.S. because it was “helping the economically powerful brother from the north who, if he puts a tax on the free trade zones, will wreck us.”

Use of Guantanamo Bay
On January 29, 2025, Trump ordered the preparation of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to house tens of thousands of migrants.

Within a month, hundreds of migrants had been transferred to Guantanamo. Most of them were swiftly transferred elsewhere, including 177 Venezuelans who arrived in Venezuela on February 20 after having been held at Guantanamo.

Impact

Immigrant communities
According to the Brazilian news outlet g1, undocumented Brazilian immigrants living in the US report that they are skipping work and avoiding sending their children to school for fear of arrest. They are also using messaging apps, such as WhatsApp, to share real time information on the movements of ICE. In some instances this has led to panic due to misinformation, such as a false report of ICE drones flying over neighborhoods. Social organizations, such as Boston’s Brazilian Worker Center, have hosted information meetings where immigrants can learn their rights and set up custody documents for their children in case the parents are deported. Many of these meetings are held online since people are afraid to go out of their homes.

An 11 year old girl in Gainesville, Texas named Jocelyn Carranza committed suicide after students at her school started a rumor that ICE would deport her family.

Education
Some school districts, such as in California, New York, Georgia, and Illinois, have already issued sweeping directives stating that district teachers, officials and administration were not to comply with ICE officials or allow them on school grounds unless they were presented with a valid court-issued warrant. Several schools reportedly had parents and guardians of students calling shortly after the inauguration about concerns of ICE agents being able to access school grounds.

Economic
The American Immigration Council estimated the cost of conducting a million deportations at $967.9 billion in federal government spending over a decade.

Shortly after Trump took office in January 2025, rumors of mass deportations and fears of increased ICE raids impacted the agriculture sector with massive drops in field workers who showed up for work the day after the inauguration.

After it was announced that Trump was utilizing military planes to deport individuals, it was estimated that each flight cost over $850,000. Each of the recent deportation flights had about 80 people on board.

Construction, manufacturing, agriculture, service, and childcare are among the sectors that employ large numbers of illegal immigrants. Adam Tooze said that the planned deportations would cause “a series of rolling shocks to a large part of the U.S. economy” and would also affect people outside those sectors by raising prices. Manuel Cunha Jr., the president of the Nisei Farmers League in California, said, “If you took away my workforce, you wouldn’t eat. … The country will stop, literally stop because the food system won’t move.” Lack of childcare would prompt some people to leave the workforce.

Health care
After it was reported that ICE might arrest people at hospitals, hospitals in Washington and Georgia advised staff to alert security guards or supervisors if they were questioned by ICE. The states of Texas and Florida required healthcare facilities to “to ask the immigration status of patients and tally the cost to taxpayers of providing care to immigrants living in the U.S. without authorization.”

Impersonation
It was reported in February 2025 that law enforcement had arrested individuals in at least three states that were allegedly impersonating ICE officers, during the ramping up of deportations. Sean-Michael Johnson was arrested in South Carolina, and charged with kidnapping and impersonating a police officer after reportedly detaining a group of Latino men, Johnson was recorded by one of the men stating “Where are you from, Mexico? You from Mexico? You’re going back to Mexico!”. In North Carolina, Carl Thomas Bennett was arrested for impersonating an ICE officer and sexually assaulting a woman threatening to deport her if she did not comply. A Temple student was charged as one of a group of students, wearing shirts with “Police” and “ICE” printed on them, that attempted to enter a residence hall and then moved to disrupt a local business in Pennsylvania.

On Native Americans
On January 23, 2025, tribal leaders of the Navajo Nation in Arizona reported that they have received calls and text messages from Navajo people living in urban areas who have been stopped, questioned, or detained by ICE, prompting a detailed discussion of the topic during a Naabik’íyáti’ Committee meeting. State Senator Theresa Hatathlie, who represents Arizona’s 6th legislative district, joined the committee meeting and shared her report in the Navajo language. Hatathlie reported to the Council that she received a call about a case involving eight Navajo citizens who were detained for hours with no cell phones or ability to contact their families or tribes.

April Ignacio, who grew up and lives on the Tohono Oʼodham Nation (whose tribal lands are on both sides of the Arizona-Mexico border and where U.S. Customs and Border Protection has had a presence for decades) said that the Trump administration’s new policies are taking aim at tribal communities “in new and shocking ways”, which will draw attention to the communities and spur tribal responses.

After a federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocked Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship, the United States Department of Justice, in defense of the constitutionality of the executive order, argued in court that Native Americans did not have birthright citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment because they were not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States based on the 1884 Supreme Court case Elk v. Wilkins, so neither should the children of illegal immigrants or temporary visitors. However, the Department ignored the Indian Citizenship Act, passed by Congress in 1924, which gave U.S. birthright citizenship to Native Americans.

Legal

On January 25, it was reported that some immigrant rights groups in Chicago filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration against the deportation plans, claiming the specific targeting of sanctuary cities such as Chicago violated the US Constitution. The executive director of Raise the Floor Alliance, Sophia Zaman, claimed the motives of the raids were retaliatory by the Trump administration against the cities policies.

Shortly after the announcement of the rollback of an Obama-era directive that protected immigrants from sensitive areas such as hospitals, places of worship and schools, a coalition of Quakers filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to block ICE raids on houses of worship. The coalition included the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, New England Yearly Meeting, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Adelphi Friends Meeting and the Richmond Friends Meeting. The Quakers coalition argued that the practice of communal worship is uniquely harmed by the possibility of immigration arrest or search, as worship commonly involves multiple congregates sitting in silence to await a message from God.

On February 11, 2025, a coalition of more than two dozen Christian and Jewish denominations sued the Department of Homeland Security et al. over its decision to allow ICE agents to raid houses of worship to make arrests. The groups are asserting that the raids will violate their religious freedom rights under the First Amendment. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Protests

Demonstrations emerged nationwide against enhanced immigration enforcement policies under the Trump administration and the increasing activity of ICE. Demonstrations occurred in Texas, California, Alabama, South Carolina, and Indiana, primarily in metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles. A protest held in Charleston, South Carolina, led to the arrest and detention of seven protesters for gathering in a group of more than 25 people without a permit.

Artivism Against Racism

Artivism, a fusion of art and activism, uses artistic expression as a tool for political and social change. When specifically addressing racism, artivism seeks to challenge and dismantle systemic racism, highlight injustices, and promote inclusion through visual arts, performances, music, and literature. This movement empowers marginalized voices and fosters dialogues about race, identity, and justice.

Artivists employ a range of mediums to convey potent messages, provoke thought, and inspire action. Through their work, they create spaces for reflection and discussion, urging viewers to confront their own biases and engage with issues pertaining to race.

Artists Manifesting Against Racism and for Inclusion

Several artists have made significant contributions to the artivism movement, using their platforms to advocate against racism. Here are a few notable examples:

• Kara Walker: Known for her silhouettes and large-scale installations, Walker addresses racial and gender inequality by using historical narratives and imagery to confront uncomfortable truths about racism in America.
• Ai Weiwei: This Chinese contemporary artist and activist uses his work to address various social issues, including immigration and refugee crises. His art often critiques government policies and highlights human rights abuses.
• Faith Ringgold: An African American artist and activist, Ringgold uses storytelling through quilts and paintings to address racism and advocate for equality. Her work often includes themes of race, gender, and social justice.
• The Guerrilla Girls: This collective of feminist artists focuses on gender and racial discrimination in the art world. They use posters, billboards, and performances to highlight inequities and advocate for inclusion.
• Iris México: She is a multidisciplinary artist renowned for her Conceptual Manifestos and political performances. Her work addresses critical subjects such as housing rights, freedom of expression, inclusion initiatives, cultural policies, and gender issues. Utilizing contemporary media, she raises awareness about human rights and spirituality, effectively merging artivism with social advocacy to inspire dialogue and action.

In today’s world, artivism remains incredibly relevant as it serves as a powerful vehicle for raising awareness and fostering change. The ongoing struggles against racism and inequality necessitate creative responses that can resonate with diverse audiences. The artivism movement encourages communities to engage with complex social issues, promoting empathy and understanding through artistic expression.

Furthermore, artivism has gained traction in the digital age, providing a platform for artists to reach broader audiences. Social media has amplified artistic messages, allowing movements such as Black Lives Matter to leverage visual arts as a means of protest and activism. As a form of cultural discourse, artivism equips individuals and groups with the tools to advocate for justice and inclusion, making it a vital aspect of contemporary social movements.

Artivism continues to inspire critical discussions and actions against racism, making it an essential and transformative force in contemporary society.

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