
In recent decades, U.S. immigration policies have aggressively targeted families fleeing violence and poverty in Mexico and Central and South America, spawning a network of detention centers that now exist indefinitely along our southern border. The U.S.’s approach to tackling undocumented immigration has come under fire for its use of brutal tactics such as deliberately separating families, placing them in confinement under harsh conditions, and denying them adequate medical and legal counsel.
On today’s program, John Carlos Frey, author of Sand and Blood: America’s Stealth War on the Mexico Border, explores increased militarization at the border, U.S. “deterrent strategy,” and the profitable business of fear.
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Featuring:
- John Carlos Frey
Music:
- Scanglobe – Oblique
- Lobo Loco – 20 Pilgrim
- Audiobanger – The Garden State
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