Texas has more migrant detention centers and migrant prisons than any other state in the Union. Sarah Lopez focuses the construction and design of migrant detention facilities in Texas since the 1960s in relation to immigration policy and private prison practices. Using archival and ethnographic methods that include historic newspaper articles, ICE contracts and documents, satellite imagery, field observations and interviews, this historic genealogy of the construction of detention facilities reveals the government’s abdication of design responsibilities as private prison corporations and construction companies assume authority and responsibility for making critical design decisions that impact migrants’ daily lives.

This event is free and open to the public. Registration is not required. There is one (1) AIA learning unit available to those who attend.