Leaked ICE data shows that 73 percent of people booked into ICE detention this fiscal year have no criminal convictions. Honoring the dignity of immigrants, including those without legal status, is an act of resistance.
by Terry Hansen
Guest Commentary
Guest Commentary
Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan has been convicted by a federal jury of felony obstruction for directing Eduardo Flores‑Ruiz, an undocumented immigrant, toward a back exit when she learned Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were waiting in the building. If the conviction is upheld, Dugan faces up to five years in prison. The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign issued a coalition statement asserting that the conviction sets "a dangerous precedent," and that "This case was never about one individual. It was about whether people can still walk into a courthouse without fear and trust the justice system to protect them." Notably, leaked ICE data analyzed by the Cato Institute show that 73 percent of people booked into ICE detention this fiscal year have no criminal convictions, nearly half lack even pending charges, and only 5 percent have violent convictions—contradicting claims of targeting “the worst of the worst.” Legal scholar Samera Esmeir coined the term "juridical humanity," meaning the way law defines who counts as human. Esmeir describes the history of juridical humanity as a "tale about loss," including "the loss of the human to modern law, when the law laid claim to a monopoly over the power to declare the presence of the human." Applied to Trump-era immigration policy and cases like Judge Dugan’s, it captures how people are rendered “human” only to the extent that they fit a legal status the state recognizes and values. Current immigration practices embody this concept: threats of denaturalization against “disloyal” citizens and mass deportations to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison—often ignoring due process or torture allegations—relegate migrants to a downgraded humanity. Law doesn’t just close borders; it manufactures lesser humans. Congress’ failure to pass immigration reform helps entrench juridical humanity by freezing an outdated legal system and forcing battles over humanity into executive and judicial discretion, instead of democratic lawmaking. Comprehensive reform has stalled for over two decades, leaving millions in precarious or “liminal” status—the undocumented, Dreamers (DACA), people with Temporary Protected Status, and long-term residents—whose basic life conditions depend on fragile, reversible policies rather than secure legal personhood. In juridical humanity terms, Congress keeps in place a hierarchy where some people are fully recognized humans (citizens), while others are only partially recognized and can be detained, deported, or excluded with fewer protections because their legal status is unresolved or deliberately kept temporary. Significantly, this past February, the White House posted a dehumanizing video on X of shackled and downcast detainees boarding airplanes, accompanied by the sounds of jangling chains and the revving of airplane engines. The post was titled "ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight." ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) videos use visuals and sound to create a relaxing, tingling sensation that helps viewers de-stress. Elon Musk, then head of the Department of Government Efficiency, retweeted the post, writing “Haha wow,” along with emojis of a troll and a medal. While the ideological façade of Trump's immigration policies is the protection of U.S. citizens, its goals clearly include humiliation and cruelty. The Declaration of Independence is prominently displayed behind President Trump’s Oval Office desk. Its ideals proclaim that "all men are created equal” and “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” and that governments are "instituted" only “to secure” these pre-existing rights—not to grant or revoke them. Honoring the dignity of immigrants, including those without legal status, is an act of resistance, an attempt to reclaim humanity from a restrictive, legally imposed form. If appellate courts overturn Dugan's conviction, they will keep open a small, vital space where the law can still be forced, by both judges and movements, to acknowledge a humanity it did not create and has no legitimate authority to erase.
Terry Hansen is a retired educator who writes frequently about climate change and on human rights. He lives in Grafton, WIsconsin.
