Authoritarianism is a disability rights issue. Immigration is a disability rights issue. And , as we’ve seen throughout the escalations over the past year, disabled people are particularly vulnerable to abuse by extrajudicial secret police and unregulated detention camps. Some of the disability-related ICE stories from the past two weeks include:
A father in the suburbs of Philadelphia was kidnapped by ICE in the parking lot of his apartment complex while trying to take his autistic daughter to school. He is a legal resident of the US.
A Black Deaf Man, Ike Muringai, was taken by ICE in Minnesota and reportedly sent to detention in El Paso. Access lawyers and ASL interpreters has been inconsistent, and his family reports having seen him on video call in the same clothes he was wearing while detained over a week ago. Funds are being raised for his legal aid and travel fees for his fiancée.
A disabled woman, Aliya Rahman, was dragged from her car and detained in MN on her way to a doctor’s appointment. Rahman, who is a US citizen, tried to tell the agents she was disabled and later passed out in detention.
At least two protesters were blinded by ICE’s use of “less lethal” projectiles this week. Despite the name, these munitions can be fatal depending on how they’re used, and often cause permanent damage, as in the case of 21-year-old demonstrator Kaden Rummler and 31-year-old Britain Rodriguez, both of Santa Ana.
As with any widespread and unchecked violence, we should expect escalating attacks on civilians across the country by federal agents to be a mass disabling event.