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Hostile Terrain 94 – Exhibition Walk-through, Book Sale/Signing, and Reception
February 10 @ 10:30 am – 2:00 pm
Tuesday, February 10, 1030am-2pm
Exhibition walk-through with Dr. Jason De Léon and Michael Wells – 1030-1130am;
Book sale/signing – 1130-1230pm;
Reception – 1230-2pm.
Hostile Terrain 94 is a participatory exhibition created by the Undocumented Migration Project (UMP), a non-profit organization that focuses on the violent social process of immigration and raises awareness through research, education, and outreach.
In 1994, the United States Border Patrol launched the immigration enforcement strategy known as “Prevention Through Deterrence” (PTD). With heightened security measures at urban points of entry, undocumented migrants were forced to traverse extremely treacherous environments, land dubbed as “Hostile Terrain” by U.S. Border Patrol.
PTD failed to deter border crossers and, instead, millions of people have attempted to migrate through the US-Mexico border since the 1990s. By using this tactic, the U.S. government has attempted to shift the blame onto the harsh environment, weaponizing the land as a natural killing field. As a result of this policy, more than 8,100 people have died on the US-Mexico border, largely from dehydration and hyperthermia, while attempting the journey through California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. PTD is still the primary border enforcement strategy being used on the US-Mexico border today.
Migrant death at the border is both systemic and systematic. Policies such as PTD, along with the use of detention centers and obstacles in attaining asylum, have created a system that has traumatized thousands of people in the name of immigration control.
