"In my latest article for Verdict, I dive into the roots of the "Immigration Detention Industrial Complex." What we see today—private corporations profiting from the detention of ICE detainees—is part of a long-standing American continuum of racialized labor exploitation.

Drawing on my two decades as a civil and human rights attorney, I examine how our current immigration system continues historical patterns of structural racism and exploitation. Today, approximately 90% of ICE detainees are held in privately operated facilities—a market that has turned human suffering into a billion-dollar industry.

Safety does not come from incarceration; it comes from strong, connected communities. We must advocate for systemic alternatives that prioritize human dignity and family unity over punitive control."

The problem is especially prominent in South Dakota, where Native Americans represent about 8.5% of the state’s population but were victims of 75% of the fatal police shootings since 2000.

In the nearly two and half decades since 9/11, the ongoing tension between the rights and freedoms of individuals and government authority has shifted the balance decidedly in favor of authoritarian state control.

In October, a Reddit user leaked audio of a meeting between Ron Herrera, President of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, and Los Angeles council members Nury Martinez, Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León. On the recording, the council members made racist remarks about Indigenous peoples and African Americans. 

Raised in South Central Los Angeles, Zavala took issue with the death penalty at an early age after seeing “the racial disparities of whom it’s applied to and the fact that numerous people have been found innocent after being sentenced.” He believes all people are capable of personal transformation, and should not solely be judged by the worst thing they’ve ever done.