Last month, Vice President Kamala Harris’ team defined her official task as “leading the diplomatic outreach to Central American countries to address the root causes of migration,” according to CNN. President Biden told reporters that he asked Harris to take on the new role “because she’s the most qualified person to do it.” On Mar. 24, The United States Department of Health and Human Services received approval from the Defense Department to house migrant children and teenagers in San Antonio and El Paso military bases, according to KFox14.
Vice President Harris has spoken extensively about the issue of immigration before her appointment to that role almost two weeks ago. While serving as California’s Attorney General in 2015, Harris told a local television station in Los Angeles that “an undocumented immigrant is not a criminal.”
“I’m a career prosecutor,” she added. “I’ve personally prosecuted everything from low-level offenses to homicides. Unfortunately, I know what crime looks like. I know what a criminal looks like who’s committing a crime. An undocumented immigrant is not a criminal.”
Harris’ seemingly “progressive” stance on immigration seems to be confined to her public statements over the years. After the Vice President tweeted a statement praising the White House’s American Rescue Plan and its success thus far, many pointed out the work still needed to be done at the border. Among them was rapper, poet, record producer and activist Noname, who many feel represents a more radical generation that views issues of immigration and prison reform as interconnected.
Originally from the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, Noname has been active in the music industry since 2013 after appearing on Chance the Rapper’s mixtape, Acid Rap. In 2016, she released her own mixtape, Telefone, and used the proceeds from that record to fund her debut studio album, Room 25. However, Noname is quickly becoming a voice of reason for a generation dedicated to resisting the systemic inequalities. She has made more than just a name for herself on social media, never shying away from speaking out on issues like Black Lives Matter, women’s rights and anti-capitalist beliefs.
Noname identifies as “a leftist who supports socialism and opposes imperialism and anti-Blackness,” according to The John Hopkins News-Letter. Aside from her prominent presence on social media, Noname’s independently owned music addresses topics including race, sex, politics and the Black experience. She is known for sharing Black content on her socials through her book club, Noname Book Club, an online and in-person community that amplifies the voices of people of color and their work. The club also launched its Prison Program this year, which allows the community to share their monthly features with incarcerated people, as much of her social media posts revolve around police and prison abolition.
In response to Vice President Harris’ tweet, Noname tweeted two photos from inside a Texas border facility of immigrant children in U.S. custody sleeping on mats underneath foil blankets and separated by plastic partitions. President Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, said “the administration has a commitment to transparency to make sure that the news media gets the chance to report on every aspect of what’s happening at the border,” in response to the photos from the Border Patrol detention center, in the southern Texas city of Donna, that were released on March 23. Biden has declined to expel immigrant children without a parent after a federal appeals court in January cleared the way for him to do so. He has, however, expelled thousands of immigrant adults and families, while keeping a Trump-era public health order in place. U.S Customs and Border Protection, which includes Border Patrol, said its “working to to balance for need for public transparency and accountability” while still refusing access to most outside visitors, according to ABC Eyewitness News.
Despite the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to make it seem as though America is “back on track” and rid of Trump’s policies and harmful rhetoric, the almost irreparable effects his entire administration left will remain present in corrupt institutions like the electoral college, voter suppression and immigration, and it will be the advocates for justice and change, like Noname, who will be there to remind us of all the work that still lies ahead.