Between Blackness and Non-Citizenship: How the U.S. Immigration System Doubly Traps Black (Im)migrants
- Human Rights Research Center
- 18 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Author: Sasha Leonard
March 4, 2026
Glossary
Absorbed: To be incorporated into or included in something else.
Afro-descent: Refers to people of African origin who live outside of the African continent and can trace their ancestral roots to enslaved African peoples.
Afro-diaspora: Refers to all of the communities and people, globally, that are descended from people from the African continent, particularly descendants of African populations displaced by the transatlantic slave trade and emigrants of African heritage.
American Belonging: A term used in this article to refer to being able to identify with “American-ness” and be perceived as “American,” a term often equated to being “White.”
Amorphous: Not having a shape or clear form.
Anti-Black Racism: Refers to prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination directed towards people of Afro-descent. This dehumanization of Black people is rooted in legacies of colonialism, slavery, and systemic oppression.
Blackness: There is no concrete definition of “Blackness” or what it means to “be Black”. In this article, the term “Blackness” is used to refer to the racial category as defined in the United States. In the U.S., those descended from Black racial groups in Africa (African Americans, Caribbeans, Afro-Latinos, Africans, etc.), regardless of nationality or ethnicity, are considered “Black.” Furthermore, because of the historical discrimination and subjugation of Black people within the U.S., the term “Blackness” in this article also indicates the racial histories and negative associations that Black people have experienced.
Carceral Mechanism: Refers to the institutions, policies, and practices used to maintain power for the state through surveillance and punishment as tools to control people’s behavior, particularly that of marginalized communities.
Cemented: To be established or made more permanent.
Compounded: To make an issue or difficulty worse.
Conflation: The process of being combined into one or the false association or confusion of different ideas, topics, or arguments into one.
Converge: Meaning to connect at a point.
Criminality: Refers to behavior that is criminal and prohibited by criminal law.
Cross-Ethnic Solidarity: Refers to cooperation and the creating of alliances among different racial and/or ethnic groups with the goal of combatting shared oppression and discrimination.
Dehumanized: To treat someone or portray them as less than human.
Disaggregate: To separate something into parts or smaller components.
Disenfranchisement: Having one’s rights or certain privileges (particularly the ability to vote) restricted.
Discourse: Refers to conversation or communication about a subject in speech or writing.
Disparity: Refers to imbalance, inequality, or an unfair difference in treatment or level.
Disproportionately: For something to occur to an extent that is unfair (too large or too small) in comparison with something else.
Employment and Housing Discrimination: Employment discrimination refers to the illegal and unfair treatment of applicants or employees based on protected characteristics, such as race, sex, religion, disability, or caregiving status. Such discrimination can occur at any process of employment including hiring, firing, promotion, calculation of wages, and training. Housing discrimination is similarly illegal and a practice of discriminating against people based on protected characteristics during the process of sale, rental, financing, or advertising of housing.
Erasure: The removal of all traces or the existence of something or someone.
Furthers: Assists in the development of something.
Intersectional Identity: This refers to how multiple identifiers affect one another in regards to one’s reality. For example, one’s gender identity can significantly shape how they understand and experience their racial identity which can also impact how they identify with their religion. In this article, one’s legal status impacts how they understand and experience their racial identity.
(Im)migrant: This is an umbrella term meant to refer to both migrants (people who move temporarily or move for work) and immigrants (people who move with the intention of settling permanently). It also refers to refugees, international students, and others experiencing movement across borders.
National Imagination: As defined by historian and political scientist Benedict Anderson, the nation is “imagined” because even though people in a nation will never know all of their fellow country-people, they imagine their unity and camaraderie. Along this idea, the “national imagination” refers to shared narratives, images, and symbols created by those within a nation that serve to represent a collective identity and belonging. Examples of these narratives, images, and symbols include traditions, creation myths, social norms and contracts, and flags.
Non-citizen: Any individual who is not a citizen or national of the country in which they reside in. This may include immigrants, refugees, asylees, and permanent residents.
Opposition: To be against something or someone; to be the opposite position.
Othering: The process of viewing or treating someone as naturally different and foreign to oneself.
Overpolicing: Refers to the disproportionate presence and aggression of law enforcement in marginalized communities, often low-income Black and Brown neighborhoods. This practice of frequent stops and searches, racial profiling, surveillance, and routine traffic stops for minor infractions creates a hostile environment rather than a safer community.
Perceived: To be interpreted or judged in a specific way.
Perpetuated: To continue for an unlimited period of time; to promote or advance.
Proximity: To be close relationally, physically, or temporally (time).
Racialization: A sociological concept that refers to the process of associating certain meanings, characteristics, and behaviors to a group of people or racial category based on real or imagined features. This process is usually done to justify perpetuated inequality.
Racial Profiling: Refers to the practice by law enforcement, security, or other officials where they use race or ethnicity as a reason to suspect someone of having committed a crime or offense. This discriminatory practice relies on stereotypes.
Removals: Also referred to as deportation, this is the formal process of a non-citizen being ordered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to leave the United States.
Rhetoric: Refers to language that is meant to persuade or affect its audience, though such language is often interpreted as being insincere or meaningless.
Socioeconomic Disparities: The unequal distribution of resources, opportunities, and access to education, healthcare, or wealth across different groups within society.
Surveillance: Close observation of someone, especially someone suspected of a crime or offense.
Systemic: Relating to a system; systemic racism refers to systems and structures within society that, because of how they are designed, continue discrimination against Black people, Indigenous people, and other people of color.
Systematically: To do something according to a system or an ordered and fixed method.
Underpin: To support from below or act as a foundation for something.
Undocumented (immigrant): Any non-citizen who does not have the necessary official documents to be considered as having permission to live, work, or stay in a country under the applicable law(s). Such documents may include a visa, residence permit, work permit.
Visibility: The state of being seen or understood as something.
White Supremacy: A racist ideology that claims that white people are superior to people of other races and should hold a dominant position in society.
Xenophobia: Prejudice against those from other countries than one’s own or against those perceived as foreign which may often result in hostility or violence.
References
Black Alliance for Just Immigration and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. “1 Pager on Black Migrant Statistics,” https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/forums/forum-african-descent/sessions/session1/statements/2023-01-05/Black-Alliance-for-Just-Immigration.pdf.
Claude, Ronald et. al. “Anti-Blackness in Global Migration: Findings and Recommendations for the Permanent Forum of People of African Descent and Beyond, Black Alliance for Just Immigration, 2023, https://baji.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Anti-Blackness-in-Global-Migration-2023-Report-Findings-for-PFPAD.pdf.
Claude, Ronald, Erica Baganza, Metzlal Ocbazghi. “Kick Us Out, Lock Us Up, Keep Us Out.” Black Alliance for Just Immigration, April 21, 2025, https://baji.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/BAJI-First-100-Days-2025.pdf.
Goff, Timanatha et al. “Criminalizing Blackness: An Analysis of the Impacts of the 1994 Crime Bill and 1996 Immigration Bill on Black People and Policy Recommendations to Address the Harms Caused.” The Movement for Black Lives, 2022, https://m4bl.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/CB_REPORT.pdf.
U.S. Census Bureau. "Black or African American Alone or in Any Combination by Selected Groups" American Community Survey, ACS 5-Year Estimates Detailed Tables, Table B02025, 2024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B02025?q=B02025: Accessed on January 30, 2026.
U.S. Census Bureau, "Sex by Age by Nativity and Citizenship Status (Black or African American Alone)," American Community Survey, ACS 5-Year Estimates Detailed Tables, Table B05003B, accessed on January 30, 2026, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B05003B?q=black+in+2024+.
TRAC Immigration Tools. “Ice Removals.” Syracuse University. https://tracreports.org/phptools/immigration/remove/.
TRAC Immigration Tools. “Outcomes of Immigration Court Proceedings.” Syracuse University. https://tracreports.org/phptools/immigration/closure/.