Welcome to the 2026 GIS in Action Annual Conference hosted by the Oregon & SW Washington Chapter of the Geospatial Professional Network & Cascadia ASPRS.
The objective of this research is to interrogate the deployement of intensified punitive tactics in U.S. immigration processing and border security. I rely on Critical Migration Studies, Abolition Geography Studies and various geographic perspectives as analytical frameworks to advance the working claim surrounding the political weak points and U.S constitutional violations as it relates to citizenship granting-processes, national security, and (in)mobility between borders. Given the indefinite suspension of U.S. asylum processing cases, refugee resettlement programs, citizen naturalization applications, and the expansion of military-grade border surveillance beyond U.S. ports of entry, I seek to investigate the spatial relationship between the Northwest Detention Center's and grassroots-led organizers who fight for its permanent closure. I employ ethnographic research and participatory observation to demonstrate the need for the abolition of immigration detention centers in the U.S.
