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# The Chains of Intolerance
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/andrew-ellis-johnson-the-chains-of-intolerance/
- Published: 2018-06-30T14:00:10.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:55:17.000Z
- Description: They downplayed the cages for migrant children, comparing their chain-link fences to those surrounding “playgrounds all over America.”
- Author: Andrew Ellis Johnson
- Tags: Art, Drawing, Jeff Sessions, Weekend, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-18 14:37 (2018)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2018/06/the-iceman-cometh_dreamer.jpg)

Andrew Ellis Johnson, “The ICEman Cometh” (2018, detail), ink, charcoal, wax, graphite (courtesy of the artist)

[They](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/27/us-immigration-must-reunite-families-separated-at-border-federal-judge-rules?ref=hyperallergic.com) donated to inaugural balls and political action committees and further expanded their contracts for private for-profit prison **chains**.

*In 2016, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates announced the end of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ use of private prisons.*

[They](https://www.vox.com/2018/6/21/17488458/obama-immigration-policy-family-separation-border?ref=hyperallergic.com) made decorative paper **chains** to turn their **chain** link cages into “family-friendly facilities.”

*Before April 2018, asylum seekers were generally not prosecuted. Neither were people who came to the US with their children.*

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2018/06/iceman-cometh_chains-detail.jpg)

Andrew Ellis Johnson, “The ICEman Cometh” (2018, detail), ink, charcoal, wax, graphite

[They](https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2018/06/26/jeff-sessions-los-angeles-visit/?ref=hyperallergic.com) held hands and linked arms in human **chains** to prevent the placement of children in detention centers, until the police arrived. They were handcuffed as they were arrested.

*As of June 26, 2018, non-violent civil disobedience remains a punishable exercise of First Amendment rights.*

[They](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-judge-immigration-20180626-story.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) tried to weaken a link in the authoritarian **chain**.

*On June 26, 2018, an injunction at the request of the ACLU was granted to reunite children with their parents within 30 days, but the government has no clear process to comply.*

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2018/06/the-iceman-comethink-charcoal-wax-graphite-84-x-84-inches.jpg)

Andrew Ellis Johnson, “The ICEman Cometh” (2018), ink, charcoal, wax, graphite, 84 x 84 inches