This week, we discussed the partisan divide and the likelihood of representatives supporting the tightening of interior immigration based on the size of the Hispanic/Latino population in their districts.

The article that I selected focuses on how tightening interior immigration can affect certain communities in the United States.

In 2013, Livingston County, located in Chicago, lost a major employer. In result, Dwight, a small town of 4,200 residents, was severely impacted, with 450 people losing their jobs. Some businesses closed, house prices went down, and the town lost about $50 million in annual economic impact. Jared Anderson, who serves as the current “Village” president, was met with an offer that would seemingly benefit his community. A private company called “Immigration Centers for America” proposed that they build a detention center in Dwight, which would ultimately create 280 job opportunities (averaging at $60,000 each) for the residents of the town. The people of Livingston County are currently facing ethical dilemmas over the creation of an immigration detention center. On the one hand, Anderson argues that a detention center would have a substantial economic impact on the county as The Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs’ project construction would economically impact Livingston by $255 million. Moreover, the town of Dwight would be paid for each detainee in the facility. Hannah Van Der Karr, a resident of Dwight, views the possible development as a moral injustice and worries that the company only cares about imprisoning people for profit.

After reading this article and this weeks’ texts, I ask the following questions:

Do you believe that a tighter immigration policy would yield to an economic advantage or disadvantage? Who are the “winners” in Trump’s America? Moreover, Dwight, Chicago is currently estimated to have a small Hispanic population (2.8%). Based on Wong’s findings, do you think that Jared Anderson would firmly support the development of an immigration detention center?