'This is something I would have expected under the old administration, not under this administration,' one advocate said
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Immigration advocates are criticizing the Biden administration's videos of deportation flights, describing the footage of "perp walks" as "dehumanizing" and "shocking," The Hill reported on Monday.
"The use of this footage is shocking and dehumanizing, and ICE should immediately discontinue it," a press release from the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) said.
In a press release on ICE's website posted on August 2, ICE said they "facilitated multiple removal flights, including single adults and family units, to Central America as part of dozens of other routine ICE removal flights conducted throughout the hemisphere and around the world."
The press release included video showing individuals, "who lack a lawful basis to stay in the United States are ordered removed," boarding planes.
Immigration advocates called on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to stop taking video of migrants boarding deportation flights. (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson)
"These are people who have in many cases [fled] to the United States for safety. And we turn around and basically dehumanize them to make a point about our immigration or about our strong immigration stance," Tom Cartwright, an advocate with Witness at the Border, told The Hill.
"This is something I would have expected under the old administration, not under this administration," he continued.
According to the ICE press release, videos of removal flights, including b-roll, and testimonials from migrants have been made available to the media on their website.
"The fact that they’re not criminal cases, and the fact that many law enforcement agencies shirk away now from doing these kinds of perp walks — because it’s almost a form of exploitation," Cartwright told The Hill.
SEATTLE, WA - JULY 12: Protesters rally outside City Hall on July 12, 2020 in Seattle, Washington. Demonstrators called for the abolishment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its immigration detention centers. ((Photo by Karen Ducey/Getty Images))
ICE DEPORTATIONS REMAINED WELL BELOW TRUMP-ERA LEVELS IN FY 2022, AMID HISTORIC BORDER CRISIS
The Biden administration is increasing the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents who are part of the enforcement agency’s investigative arm, Fox News Digital reported.
The agents are being dispatched to the southern border amid what officials say is an increase in migrant numbers.
The Hill reported that the videos posted by ICE are meant to deter migrants from coming to the U.S and are meant to "curtail Republican attacks over conditions at the border."
Director of Policy at NIJC Heidi Altman told the Hill that there was no evidence the "deterrence framework" worked.
A Border Patrol agent leads migrants to a temporary processing tent on May 4, 2023 in Brownsville, Texas. (Photo by Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images)
"If the administration knows — as they must — that this theory of deterrence doesn’t work, then it becomes clear that this is political," she told the outlet.
She said political discourse surrounding immigration was "increasingly xenophobic" and called on the Biden administration to introduce a framework that acknowledges humanity.
"And what we’ve been waiting for is for the administration for the current leadership to present an alternative framework that acknowledges the humanity of people seeking asylum in the United States, that acknowledges the right to seek asylum at the southern border," she said.
Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
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Hanna Panreck is an associate editor at Fox News.
