On this edition of Your Call’s Authoritarian Playbook Series, we're discussing the Trump administration’s ongoing violent immigration crackdown with Jenn Budd, former Border Patrol agent turned whistleblower, and Todd Miller, author of Empire of Borders: The Expansion of the U.S. Border Around the World.
As federal immigration agents continue to use extreme force on citizens and non-citizens alike, including 16 shootings over the past year, outrage across the country is growing. According to a new NPR/Marist poll, 60 percent of Americans disapprove of the job federal immigration agents are doing.
What will it take to hold violent agents accountable, especially those who shot and killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti? What is Trump’s endgame?
Guests:
Jenn Budd, former Senior Patrol Agent with the US Border Patrol in San Diego, author of Against the Wall: My Journey From Border Patrol Agent to Immigrant Rights Activist, and featured in the new HBO documentary, 'Critical Incident: Death at the Border'
Todd Miller, co-founder of The Border Chronicle, and author of four books, including Build Bridges, Not Walls: A Journey to a World Without Borders and Empire of Borders: The Expansion of the U.S. Border Around the World
Resources:
ProPublica: Two CBP Agents Identified in Alex Pretti Shooting
ProPublica: “You’re Not Going to Investigate a Federal Officer”
The New York Times: When Trump Officials’ Claims About Shootings Unravel in Court
The Guardian: I was a border patrol agent. The experience was horrifying
The Guardian: Trump’s border czar warned deportations should be targeted to ‘keep faith of American people’
ProPublica: The Children of Dilley
ProPublica: “I Have Been Here Too Long”: Read Letters from the Children Detained at ICE’s Dilley Facility
The Border Chronicle: Profitable Violence: A New Era of the Border Industrial Complex
