By Evelyn Lucado
Opinion Editor
Washington College’s Miller Library is hosting the Hostile Terrain 94 pop up exhibit on the first floor for the 2025 spring semester. As the language and rhetoric surrounding immigration grows continuously dehumanizing, this collaborative exhibit, created by the Undocumented Migration Project, presents a unique opportunity for the WC community to begin changing the conversation around immigration.
The Hostile Terrain 94 exhibit, according to the UMP, is composed of 4,000 hand-written toe tags, each one representing a migrant who lost their life attempting to cross the Sonoran Desert in Arizona between the mid 1990s and 2024.
According to Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology Dr. Patrick Mullins, the exhibit calls attention to the 1994 Prevention Through Deterrence policy implemented by the United States Border Patrol. This policy elevated border control in urban points of entry in an attempt to push migrants toward more threatening environments, such as the Sonoran Desert. By making immigration more dangerous, this policy aimed to deter migrants. In reality, Prevention Through Deterrence weaponizes the desert and has directly contributed to the deaths of thousands.
Even though policies such as Prevention Through Deterrence directly contribute to the loss of human life, according to Human Rights Watch, the rhetoric surrounding both immigration and these policies has continued to dehumanize migrants and belittle their experiences. While these individuals are losing their lives in an attempt to find a better life, American politicians are mocking them.
As President Donald Trump is cracking down on immigration, the White House, according to CNBC, has gone as far as to post a video titled “ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight” to their official X account, showcasing shackled immigrants as they boarded a deportation flight in Seattle.
This cruel display of indifference not only mocks the individuals shown in the video but attempts to strip them of their humanity, reducing their individual experiences to 41 humiliating seconds. While there are valid reasons to call for immigration reform, stunts like this video do not demonstrate concern for the American people but instead a desire to be seen as strong. This video, however, does not showcase strength, rather only disheartening apathy toward human life.
Regardless of policy, the discussions surrounding migration need to change with the understanding that we are talking about people, not numbers. Before someone is an “illegal alien,” they are first and foremost a human being.
“Much of the rhetoric around immigration is dehumanizing, and in some instances it can be hateful. Currently, people who migrate to the U.S. are conflated with ‘criminals,’ this is both inaccurate and dangerous rhetoric,” Washington College Chair of Anthropology & Archaeology Dr. Emily Steinmetz said. “We can learn from history about the ways that dehumanizing language and rhetoric can be mobilized to strip people of basic rights and humanity.”
Projects like Hostile Terrain 94 are crucial, as it turns the sobering reality of Prevention Through Deterrence and the harmful rhetoric surrounding immigration into something tangible. Each of the 4,000 toe tags represents a human being, not a statistic.
The collaborative nature of this exhibit can also hopefully bring about the difficult conversations necessary for change, as students, staff, faculty, and all other members of the community are welcome to contribute.
“My hope is that spending time writing information on the tags will allow our participants to connect more personally with people who cross the border. Students notice, for instance, that some of the people who have died are around their age, 17-20 years old,” Dr. Steinmetz said.
Members of the campus community who are interested in getting involved with the exhibit are encouraged to contact Dr. Steinmetz.
Photo by Ella Humphreys.
Photo Caption: Hostile Terrain 94 hopes to bring awareness to the thousands who have lost there lives in the Sonoran desert as a result of Prevention Through Deterrence policies.