Over the course of three decades, the Elizabeth Detention Center has become, for many, a symbol of immigrant injustice in New Jersey. This Friday, Rutgers University will hold a symposium, Elizabeth Detention Center: Past, Present, and Future, that will examine the ways in which the center reflects the larger story of immigration enforcement in the United States.  “We can get a view of 30 years of immigration policy by looking at what has happened at Elizabeth in those 30 years,” said Ulla Berg, a professor of Latino and Caribbean studies and anthropology School of Arts and Sciences, and a principal organizer of the symposium. The event, which comes amid a legal battle between New Jersey and the private corporation that runs the center, will feature scholars from across the three Rutgers campuses and beyond, as well as community organizations, journalists, activist groups, and people formerly detained in Elizabeth. In the interview below, Berg, an anthropologist and scholar of migration, expounds on the key issues.

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