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- All Subjects: Immigration
- Creators: Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law
- Resource Type: Text
With a prison population that has grown to 1.4 million, an imprisonment rate of 419 per 100,000 U.S. residents, and a recidivism rate of 52.2% for males and 36.4% for females, the United States is facing a crisis. Currently, no sufficient measures have been taken by the United States to reduce recidivism. Attempts have been made, but they ultimately failed. Recently, however, there has been an increase in experimentation with the concept of teaching inmates basic computer skills to reduce recidivism. As labor becomes increasingly digitized, it becomes more difficult for inmates who spent a certain period away from technology to adapt and find employment. At the bare minimum, anybody entering the workforce must know how to use a computer and other technological appliances, even in the lowest-paid positions. By incorporating basic computer skills and coding educational programs within prisons, this issue can be addressed, since inmates would be better equipped to take on a more technologically advanced labor market.<br/>Additionally, thoroughly preparing inmates for employment is a necessity because it has been proven to reduce recidivism. Prisons typically have some work programs; however, these programs are typically outdated and prepare inmates for fields that may represent a difficult employment market moving forward. On the other hand, preparing inmates for tech-related fields of work is proving to be successful in the early stages of experimentation. A reason for this success is the growing demand. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in computer and information technology occupations is projected to grow 11 percent between 2019 and 2029. This is noteworthy considering the national average for growth of all other jobs is only 4 percent. It also warrants the exploration of educating coders because software developers, in particular, have an expected growth rate of 22 percent between 2019 and 2029. <br/>Despite the security risks of giving inmates access to computers, the implementation of basic computer skills and coding in prisons should be explored further. Programs that give inmates access to a computing education already exist. The only issue with these programs is their scarcity. However, this is to no fault of their own, considering the complex nature and costs of running such a program. Accordingly, this leaves the opportunity for public universities to get involved. Public universities serve as perfect hosts because they are fully capable of leveraging the resources already available to them. Arizona State University, in particular, is a more than ideal candidate to spearhead such a program and serve as a model for other public universities to follow. Arizona State University (ASU) is already educating inmates in local Arizona prisons on subjects such as math and English through their PEP (Prison Education Programming) program.<br/>This thesis will focus on Arizona specifically and why this would benefit the state. It will also explain why Arizona State University is the perfect candidate to spearhead this kind of program. Additionally, it will also discuss why recidivism is detrimental and the reasons why formerly incarcerated individuals re-offend. Furthermore, it will also explore the current measures being taken in Arizona and their limitations. Finally, it will provide evidence for why programs like these tend to succeed and serve as a proposal to Arizona State University to create its own program using the provided framework in this thesis.
A successful asylum case is extremely rare in the United States legal system, particularly for Black migrants entering from Haiti who are subject to multiple layers of racism throughout each step of the process. Recent policies, such as Title 42 and Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), have further restricted migrants from initiating this process by blocking their entry and expediting their removals. Title 42, a public health code issued to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, has accelerated the deportation of Haitian migrants, while MPP has forced many migrants to stay in Mexico during their asylum proceedings. Both of these policies have had a punitive effect on migrants attempting to enter the country through “legal manners,” yet they are ineffective ways of stopping migration. Instead, migrants are now crossing through a weaponized southern border due to Border Patrol’s strategy of Prevention through Deterrence. Though there is extensive research on the racism that non-Black migrants face when interacting with enforcement agencies in the Borderlands, there is no research centering the experiences of Black migrants. In this paper, I argue that in spite of this dangerous route, migrants find ways to survive through community-based strategies, including transnational networks. Additionally, I examine local efforts in Mexicali, B.C. to provide support to migrants. This case-study is critical for the understanding of the borderlands as it highlights the detrimental consequences of colonial occupation, racism, and late-stage capitalism. Key words: Black migration, immigration, border enforcement, asylum process