By Hailey Wettlaufer, Rebecca Asselstine, Claire Martindale
DESCRIPTION OF CASE
This case study analyzes a tweet made during Pride Month by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE, as per its official website, aims to “keep America safe.”
The use of this language linguistically sets up a dichotomy of the insider versus the outsider. While the statement may seem like a positive one, what they really mean is that citizens must be protected from the outside threat of the other.
A subsection of the larger agency, ICE ERO (enforcement and removal operations) runs centres throughout the United States that detain people who are deemed as a threat to US safety in some way. Despite the claims of protection, ICE has a history of abusing those within its detention centres. An investigative report detailed over 1,200 sexual abuse complaints by individuals in immigration custody filed between 2010 and 2017.
Looking particularly into the case highlighted, on June 16 2021, ICE tweeted, “During#PrideMonth we recognize our #LGBTQ+ employees, reflect on the trials that their community has endured and rejoice with them in the triumphs of those who have bravely fought — and continue to fight— for full equality.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF ISSUES
The tweet made by ICE seems to suggest a progressive political stance. The tweet effectively overlooks the specific mistreatment towards LGBTQ+ people. As evidenced in several articles, LGBTQ+ people within ICE detention centres are at an extremely high risk for sexual abuse and other forms of mistreatment. The tweet made by ICE works to deflect away from their actions and plays into the concepts of rainbow capitalism and communicative capitalism.
Rainbow capitalism is defined as the performance of support for LGBTQ+ people for marketing and advertising purposes. From the perspective of a North American capitalist society, Pride Month has become increasingly monetarily motivated and performative.
In focusing Pride Month on performance rather than education and activism, companies are able to say that they are politically progressive without actually helping the LGBTQ+ community. This idea in the context of the case study can also be linked with the concept of communicative capitalism.
As explained by Jodi Dean, communicative capitalism functions as a form of late capitalism, in which democratic values of choice and opinion are placed within a technological space and done away with. The internet is said to function as a place for political discussions but Dean argues that this is not the reality. Due to the increased specificity and use of algorithms, people’s social media feeds are curated to only show viewpoints that they support and agree with.
Connecting this with rainbow capitalism, the two work to showcase how corporations and institutions are able to use technological spaces to make political statements without actually discussing the real issues or enacting tangible change for minority groups.
In making this statement, ICE hides behind a façade of tolerance, ignoring their very real injustices against LGBTQ+ people. Their comments also play into the idea of communicative capitalism, as it seems to present a government agency that champions LGBTQ+ people and their struggles. However, since the agency has positioned itself and declared itself to be there for the protection of America and its people, there is a disconnect about which LGBTQ+ people ICE cares about.
Also, the mention of history within the tweet ironically forgets to make mention of how many American institutions have actively disenfranchised LGBTQ+ people. With this specific media example, we can see how Western society’s move towards greater acceptance of different sexualities has coincided with homonationalism and the co-opting of issues to pander and appeal with an illusion of tolerance.
Bibliography
Dean, Jodi. 2005. “Communicative Capitalism: Circulation and the Foreclosure of Politics.” Cultural Politics (Biggleswade, England) 1 (1): 51–74. https://doi.org/10.2752/174321905778054845.
Desjardins, Lisa, Murrey Jacobson, Frank Carlson, Alison Thoet, Aaron Foley, and Joshua Barajas. “Rainbow Capitalism Raises Questions about Corporate Commitments and Pride Month’s Purpose.” PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, June 30, 2021. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/rainbow-capitalism-raises-questions-about-corporate-commitments-and-pride-months-purpose.
“Enforcement and Removal Operations.” ICE. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. AccessedOctober 27, 2022. https://www.ice.gov/about-ice/ero.
Hananel, Sam. “Release: LGBT Immigrants in Detention Centers at Severe Risk of Sexual Abuse, Cap Analysis Says.” Center for American Progress, October 26, 2022. https://www.americanprogress.org/press/release-lgbt-immigrants-detention-centers-severe-risk-sexual-abuse-cap-analysis-says/.
“ICE” ICE. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Accessed October 27, 2022. https://www.ice.gov/.
ICE Twitter Post. June 16, 2021. https://twitter.com/icegov/status/1405154490890731520?lang=en.
Puar, Jasbir K., and Tavia Amolo Ochieng’ Nyongó. 2017. Terrorist Assemblages : Homonationalism in Queer Times. Tenth Anniversary Expanded edition. Durham: Duke University Press.
“Who We Are.” ICE. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Accessed October 27, 2022. https://www.ice.gov/about-ice.
