The Heavier Baggage of Immigrating while Black
Not only are people of African descent a large part of the immigrant and refugee population, they are disproportionately targeted for removal.
The Pew Research Center reports that, in 2016, 32 percent of all refugees that came to the United States were from Africa. Three countries—Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, and Eritrea—are the leading countries of origin. This number is even higher in 2017, with the New York Times reporting that 36 percent of all refugees resettled in the United States came from countries in Africa (primarily from six countries: Congo, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, and the Central African Republic).
Not only are people of African descent a large part of the immigrant and refugee population, they are disproportionately targeted for removal. A report by the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) and New York University Law School’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic found that while Black immigrants make up seven percent of all immigrants (roughly 3.4 million people), they make up more than 10.6 percent of immigrants in removal proceedings between 2003 and 2015. …