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The first type of deportation law is the extended border control. This law can be mostly seen enforced by agents that patrol the border and entry points. They try to stop and detain any illegal entry of people into the country. They do this in order to protect the sovereignty of the country. This law also implies to people that enter the country with visas in order to study or work. If any of the conditions for the visa granted are broken they could be deported. The second type of deportation law is the post-entry social control. This applies to any non-citizen. It is a probation of sorts which any wrong doing could get the person who is the country legally to get deported. If they are a permanent resident to could lose their residency for breaking a law or any reason the government think worthy. This puts every non-citizen in a probationary period with unknown and undefined rules to follow in order to keep residency.

The “Red Scare” and “Palmer Raids” are an example of post-entry social control. This both events were a way for the government to control and scare the people into a specific ideology and way of governance. They used intimidation and force to deport any anarchist (Palmer Raids) and communist (Red Scare). Most of these people were in this country legally as resident or such. The government believed that they were a threat and used unwarranted deportation to get rid of the people they believed fell into this category. These people of accused had no chance in order to defend themselves and prove otherwise. The “Acadian Deportation” and “Indian Removal Act of 1830” are an example extended border control. These both events forced a group of people to get deported from their lands because the United States deemed these lands belonged to them. They were a threat to the sovereignty of the nation and forced to get relocated to an area that the government had no use for at that time. The government treated this people as aliens and trespassers in the United States. As a result, a forced deportation of the Acadians and Native Americans away from their homes. Many died as a result and succumbed to poverty.

I do believe that having an understanding of these two types of deportation laws is useful. The main thing to learn is that if you are not a citizen you could be deported for any reason the government seems fitting. This makes someone that is not a citizen walk on a thin thread. He could be deported for any violation or infraction. This is unfair and just wrong. I believe that there should be a concrete rule on what will get someone deported. It also forces them to live in fear of an uncertain future where they don’t have the same protection and rights of citizens. It is even worse for an illegal person in this country. They have no rights and could get deported anytime they are approached by an authority figure. Looking through the lens of these laws basically says that non-citizens could be deported for any reason.

Blog Post #2

Chapters 3 and 4 have the common theme that the United States dealt with and excluded undesirable immigrants in the country. The common theme that I believe occurred was that the United States took advantage of the immigrants and prospered from there labor. When they felt that they were a threat, they made laws banning their arrival and status in the United States. Chapter 3 focuses on the Chinese immigration beginning during the Gold Rush. After they have been used for their labor and the number of Asian immigrants became a threat they passed the Page Act of 1875. This Act was meant to suppress Asian immigrants and especially the Chinese “which forbade the entry of certain Asian laborers brought to the United States involuntary and also excluded certain convicts and prostitutes” (Kanstroom 93). The last part was the real kicker because the United States deemed most of the Chinese women as prostitutes. This barred most Chinese women from entrance which created a disproportion of Chinese men to women. The United States hoped that this would make Chinese men depart the United States willingly in order to start a family or be united with their families since bringing them to the United States to stay was out of the question.

Chapter 4 focused more on the threat of different political ideologies and the Mexican immigrant. Communism, Anarchism, and Socialism was a “believed” threat to the democracy of the United States and in order to stop this threat, the United States made it a goal to dispose of individuals that carried these views. The deportation of Emma Goldman was a case that displayed the length that the United States would go to deport undesirables. Emma Goldman was an Anarchist and got deported because she was no longer a US citizen because her husband got revoked his citizenship “The government however, argued that Goldman was subject to deportation under the Act of October 16, 1918, simply for being an anarchist” (Kanstroom 151). Since the reason for her getting her citizenship was based on her husband she quickly got denied her rights as a citizen. This sort of deportation also occurred with Marcus Garvey a black nationalist from Jamaica. He fought for the rights of African Americans and the United States labeled him an extremist and a threat to the United States. They ended up deporting him for mail fraud but the picture is that the United States was willing to go at all lengths to get rid of undesirables. The last part of the chapter 4 talks about the Mexican immigrant and how they became undesirables and found themselves the target of the United States. The Bisbee Deportation was an unlawful detention and deportation of Mexicans. About 1,300 mine workers got rounded in a baseball stadium and placed in cattle cars. They got sent to the desert of New Mexico. It was a brutal ride with no water and food. They got left there and warned not to return. This was illegal and the propitiators of this crime went unpunished.

Both chapters only differ in the victims that the United States immigration policy targeted. I believe that chapter 4 is only continuation of what occurred in chapter 3. The same theme is that the United States changed targets quickly and tried to distinguish all threats they believed would ruin the way of life of “European” US citizens. Chapter 4 did show an expansion of the deportation laws against different ideologies. Certain races were no longer the sole victim but also people that believed in different forms of government. The best display of this was The Palmer Raids. Which was a series of raids to get rid of mostly left-wing anarchist. Peter Frank got caught up in these raids. He was an Ohio born citizen that got accused of participating in violent organizations against the government “It then recited boilerplate language to the effect that Frank was a member of unnamed violent organization that violated the Immigration Act” (Kanstroom 154)”. He was held for five days without any sort of communication until he eventually got released. Chapter 4 displayed that the United States would stop at nothing to keep up the appearance of the perfect country to uphold its perceived values of that time.

Blog Post #3

After reading Deportation Nation by Daniel Kanstrom this semester. I do agree with his statements, “As a 100-plus years social experiment, the U.S. deportation system has caused considerable harm and done little demonstrable good. It is poorly planned, irrationally administered, and, as a model on which to base other enforcement systems, dangerous… In the end, the history of deportation laws shows us how integral the removal impulse has been to our nation of immigrants” (Kanstroom 243, 246). The immigration system of the United States has historically taken advantage of immigrants. They have used their cheap labor and when they became a perceived threat, laws were created to get rid of them unfairly. The deportation against certain races of immigrants shifted from time period to time period. It also varied depending on who was in office and based on their individual prejudices. Race wasn’t the only factor but also political affiliation and also belonging to an organization deemed unappropriated (communist, crime mob) by the government. In this blog, I’m going to review the 1920 crime wave, Alien Registration Act of 1940, “Operation Wetback”, and the Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments of 1986 to demonstrate why I agree with Kanstroom.

The 1920 crime wave gained traction with prohibition being in place. It was extremely lucrative to sell alcohol and offer other activities that go with drinking (gambling and salons) in order to make money. The United States government quickly viewed these illegal businesses as a threat to the well fare of the nation. Instead of viewing it as a crime problem, it was viewed as crimes being committed by immigrants. The government led by J. Edgar Hoover decided that the best and quickest way to get rid of the crime was to deport all the convicted people out of the United States “the postwar federal government enforced criminal deportation laws vigorously, targeting those whom they deemed the leaders of organized crime. The era was marked by a series of high-profile prosecutions” (Kanstroom 167). This is important because it shows that the government was not only going after Hispanics and Asians but anyone that did not follow the same moral values of the conservative government. Since the deportation laws were not defined and open to interpretation. Anyone could become a target depending on who was in charge of making that judgment.

The Alien Registration Act of 1940 was another way for the government to get rid of undesirables. It targeted Communist, Anarchist, and Fascist. This act was passed in order to deport Harry Bridges a labor organizer that was formerly part of the Communist Party. This law made it possible for the government to deport anyone who has ever belonged to an organization that the government believed wanted its overthrow “The Act of 1940 was also designed to overturn the Strecker decision in which the Supreme Court had held that past membership was not a ground for deportation. The new law authorized the deportation of those who had ever belonged to an organization that advocated the violent overthrow of the government” (Kanstroom 195). This shows how unstable the laws were that protected immigrants of the United States. The government could easily overturn any law that they needed in order to go after a group that they felt was a threat. The prejudices of the United States could quickly change and any laws that stopped them from pursuing the group they were after could be changed or a loop hole could be found.

“Operation Wetback” was a racially driven deportation on noncitizen Mexicans. Mexican agricultural workers have been used because they performed manual labor at a cheap price. When unemployment went up they became a problem for the government because it was believed that they were stealing jobs of “legal” persons. The Labor Department made illegal for agricultural business owner to her Mexican worker if no legal domestic workers were available to perform the job. Issues arose because arigicultural owners would preferred to hire Mexican workers because of the low pay. They never argued for what they got payed because they would “work for whatever they could get” (Kanstroom 223). This became a racial issue because the people that lived in these areas thought of them as a nuisance. Many believed that they were invading their cities and bringing with them their criminal activities. “Operation Wetback” was put into action to deport these unwanted Mexican laborers. A mass deportation of Mexican laborers ensued without any legal proceedings “Sites of deportation were chosen in part by considering how workers could be most quickly moved to the Mexican interior, to discourage reentry. Some 4,800 noncitizens were arrested the first day. After that, the operation caught approximately 1,100 people per day” (Kanstroom 224). Mexican laborers as well as the Chinese got taken advantage of for their cheap labor. They got used to perform the undesirable work. When the number of laborers or jobs ran out, they quickly got rid of them by any means necessary. Many of deportations were racially driven because they were looked as unworthy and second class.

Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments of 1986 was a way for the government to control marriage fraud. Instead of giving the spouse, that married a citizen, permanent residency, they got placed in a 2-year probationary period “The status could be revoked if it was found to have been improperly obtained or if the marriage was legally terminated, other than through death of a spouse” (Kanstroom 227). This is unethical because the government is mingling with the rights of people to marry whomever they want. This just created new problems for married couples and placed a new barrier for people to gain legal status in the United States. The government has no right to decide if a marriage was done for love, financial reasons or for any other factor. That is difficult to judge unless they live in that household and view the day to day living. With making that rule wrong conclusions are going to be made that affect the lives of families.

These decisions have made the lives of immigrants difficult and uncertain. It is difficult to truly gauge how many families were torn apart because of racially or politically driven deportations that occurred. Immigration control should be in place but with a universal law that is equal to all. Emotions and hate that arise by events should not affect how we allow one community or race to enter the country. We have no need for racism or hate in the world we live in. We should treat all as equals.