Hello! Welcome to a blog about the racism, sexism, classism, elitism, homophobia, xenophobia, ableism, colonialism, exploitation (… more more more….) total dehumanization and downright horror of the practices, policies, institutions, and embedded systems of the US immigration world. This is a space to rant, vent, sob, rail, dissect, question and conspire against the us immigration matrix through essays, articles, journal entries, interviews, poems, prose, songs, drawings, paintings, photos, collage, mixed media or any other form it may take. This system has done so much harm—people are suffering— and not enough can be said of it.
about the author:
ib
My name is Izzy and I worked as a paralegal at boutique and corporate immigration law firms from 2020 to 2022. I primarily worked on employment-based immigration matters such as H-1B, L-1, O-1, E-2, and E-3 nonimmigrant visa petitions as well as OPT Training Plans and EAD applications. I have also worked on PERM and employment-based green-card applications for EB-1, EB-2 and EB-3 category workers. Lastly, I have also worked on family-based immigration cases, including Adjustment of Status applications and I-601A Provisional Unlawful Presence Waivers. I am deeply disturbed from what I have observed firsthand working within this system and by the stories I have heard from immigrants and lawyers about the process. I am motivated to fight for overhaul of the whole system and the abolition of citizenship in general.
sharing messy thoughts// note on positionality
My experience and positionality are problematic and limited. These observations will be a product of my perspective as a white, well-off, cisgender, US citizen woman with a bachelor’s degree. In exposing what I have seen, I am also exposing myself and my beliefs, biases, internalized racism, sexism, classism, ableism homophobia, xenophobia…the whole gambit…. Like this blog, I am a work in progress and will be constantly working on challenging these ideas within myself, listening to others, reflecting, editing my words and holding myself accountable as I write. While I am offering my observations as a way to process the strife I have seen and emotions I have as someone who has worked in this field, I am most willing and excited to listen and engage with others who have thoughts on this, especially folks who have immigrated here and whose voices have been silenced, erased or have not been given space to be shared. I hope that, in addition to offering my own perspective, this can be a space for those folks to share their feelings and thoughts, if they feel inclined to do so.
files 