My Blog

Blog Post #1

Deportation in America falls into two complex laws. The first law is, extended border control. Extended border control is the control of territories by each state. It also tackles the legal distinction between citizens, and noncitizens. The extended border control law has two main variants, laws that mandate the deportation of a person who has evaded border controls, by surreptitious entry, by fraud or by misrepresentation. The laws support the border control, and their legitimacy. The laws allow for someone to be deported for violation an explicit condition on which they were permitted into the country. “For example, a person who enters the United States as a student must maintain a full course load, and a person with a work visa must work for a particular employer. (Kanstroom 5)” It is important to stick with the rules as a person with a work or school visa. The second law is, post-entry social control. Post-entry border control is that any person who is not a United States citizen can be deported for any reason. Even if you have lived in American as a legal long term resident, or as a noncitizen the American government has the right to turn you away for any reason. “The 1789 Alien Act, authorized highly discretionary executive deportation power to be used against noncitizen dissidents. (Kanstroom 6)”

After the attacks on September 11^th 2001 the war on terrorism started in the American nation. The government started interrogated, deporting and incarcerated immigrants. It was reported that thousands of the Muslim, and Arab men who were registered as immigrants with the government were deported back, and almost none of them were linked with terrorism. This is an example of post-entry social control; these people were being sent back to their country because they were supposedly linked to terrorism. The American government had no evidence that these immigrants had anything to do with it, but with the law in place they had the legal right to send them back. The war on terrorism should not be a war on immigrants.

“Since 1997, more that 300,000 people have been deported from the United States because of post entry criminal conduct, some serious, and some as minor a possession of marijuana or shoplifting.”(Kanstroom 10) The past two decade we see that there has been a rise in the effectiveness of this control. There have been laws set in place to change the deportation grounds and to increase the local state and law enforcement involved with deportation. The laws include, the antiterrorism, and effectiveness death penalty act and the illegal immigration reform and immigrant responsibility act. This is an example of extended border control because they are directly related with people being sent back to their home country due to violating their explicit condition on which they were permitted to the country.

I do think understanding the deportation laws extended border control, and post entry social control as our lens is very important. This is a great way to understand the wrongs of our country’s deportation, more often than not the American government is turning people away for illegitimate, and illegal reasons. Understanding that you can be ripped away from your home for something so simple is insane in America. You must fully recognize the severity and the truth of the laws. Also understanding you have to stick to the isolation of their explicit condition on which they were permitted to America.

Blog Post #2

In chapters three and four, Kanstrrom explains that the American government tried hard to cleanse the country to get rid of immigrants. The American government did not think most immigrations were worthy of living in the United States. Chapter three focused on the Chinese exclusion and different laws that were aimed at the exclusion of Chinese immigrants. Chapter four explains the impact of the southwest mines and the prosecutions of many Mexicans. The government worked diligently to get rid of Chinese, and Mexican laborers.

American immigration changed drastically in the late nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. Daniel Kanstroom explains in his book “Deportation Nation: Outsiders in American history” that this period which he refers to as the second wave. The second wave was the period when the Americans immigration system expanded, and was redefined. “Stricter exclusion and deportation laws developed during the period, both as powerful tools of centralized, professional, federal extended border authority and of post-entry social control.” (Kanstroom, 131) The immigration acts of 1864 and 1917 were the biggest impact of the immigration shift. The immigration act of 1864 “permitted Chinese immigration under the credit ticket system and generally allowed certain types of immigrant labor contracts.” (Kanstroom, 93) The immigration act of 1917 contained “a list of otherwise legal resident aliens who were taken into custody and deported.” (Kanstroom, 133) These Acts changed prior laws because it required deportation after entry for various reasons, and permitted deportation without time limits.

In chapter three it explain the Chinese exclusion period, the exclusion truly begins with the Page Act of 1875. The page act excluded immigrations who were convicts or prostitutes. The Page Act paved the way for the Scott Act, which banned the Chinese laborers and revoked their certifications that allowed from them to return to America. The Scott Act wanted to rid the American people of the “scum” immigrants. This was a way for American to try to gain social control over The United States. In the Chae Chan Ping v. United States case they determined that the “immigration laws would receive only the most minimal sort of judicial review, if any.” (Kanstrrom 101) The American government did anything in their power to get rid of immigrants through that nation.

In chapter four the second wave hits the United States, which is when the American government focus more on the expansion and refinement of modern deportation laws. “The 1920 act to deport certain undesirable aliens and to deny readmission to those deported” (Kanstroom 134) The people who were being deported were unable to come back to America, It was a final decision. Edwin E. Grant wrote an article that expressed how immigrants were the scum of the melting pot in America, and the government should get rid of them at all cost. Even a misdemeanor would be good enough reason to send someone away. The case of Fong Yue Ting “arguing that the deportation power was grounded in the commerce clause and therefore constitutionally limited.” (Kanstroom, 137) The United States changed the immigration laws to rid the country of unique ethnic and cultural background.

Blog Post #3

Everything I have learned through this semester about deportation had led me to believe in this statement “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 law shows us how integral the removal impulse has been to our nation of immigrants. (p. 243, 246). The American nation does nothing but spend money to try and keep put immigrants from our country. The deportation laws negatively effect our nation more than help in my option and Kanstrooms. Deportation does not benefit the American people nor does it benefit the immigrants being deported.

The Japanese internment camps are a prime example of this hatred. This effect Japanese citizens and permanent Japanese residents. This was against the American constitution and wrong to the Japanese people. “More than 70,000 U.S. citizens, and 40,000 noncitizens were compelled to abandon their homes, farms, and businesses” (P. 206). These Japanese people we sent to camps, and were held as prisoners for years. This increased anti-Asian racism and anti-immigration in the country. With doing this the nation was filled with more hatful ideals on certain minority’s. The internment camps were an unfortunate by-product of wartime hysteria and racial prejudice. These people did not deserve to work for the American people simply because they are a different ethnic group.

Mexican removals during the great depression was a mass deportation of this certain ethnic group. This was very un-American, seen as we are built on a foundation of immigration in our country. This was a national origin discrimination. White people were moving to Californian because of the dust bowl. This caused the American people to force out over 11 million Mexicans to make room for more jobs for these dust bowl refugees. It was very illegal for the American government to kick these people out in the way they did. It was also very harsh on the Mexican people. Many of these younger Mexicans were American citizens, and the United States born Mexican immigrant children were also affected. Many Mexican immigrants were rounded up and taken back to Mexico without being able to tell their own families. The American government ripped away people’s economic stability and in some cases, they tore apart families. in both situations, the Mexican removal and Japanese internment camps, we are seeing hate, and discrimination within the American government. This has done nothing but effect the American people to think these people don't have a place in the country, which for some of these people they were in fact legal citizens or permanent American residents.

Still to this day we have problems with the removal of Mexican-Americans from our nation. In Arizona Sherrif joe Arpario, pushed to allow pulling people over just because they look Mexican. If you had a suspicion of being an illegal alien in the country, the police had the right to pull you over to check for your papers. This was against the rights of the Mexican-American people; racial profiling is illegal, and wrong. My father who is full Mexican, was pulled over three times when this law was enforced. It was wrong, and a discriminating act. The Arizona government wasted funds on enforcing this law. We see discrimination, and wrongful deportation every day in America, and it doesn't do any good.

The Braceros program was an experiment to bring in Mexican “guest workers” to work in the United States for their wartime labor need. The program gave Mexicans minimum wage and mandated minimum working conditions. The Mexican workers had to immediately go back to Mexico after the work was over. Many growers did not want to bring in braceros because they would rather bring in illegal immigrates to work for lower wages. The desire for Mexicans to work made American view Mexicans as just workers, and nothing more. It stripped away their human rights. The bracero program was meant to regularize and legalize Mexican immigrates who are here to make a living, but in the long run it did the exact opposite of what it was supposed to do. They started to send back many Mexicans by bringing them back to the place they were granted legal work permits. This was offend refereed as “drying out the wetbacks or storm and drag immigration” (p. 220)

Kanstroom believes that the American laws don't allow for Discretionary Decision, which means that there is not proceedings and discretion that are made about deportation to been seen to have any positive from of discretion. He explains that “the government has enormous flexibility to choose whom to deport from a vast array of potential charges” (Kanstroom 230) this problem is intertwined with the understanding of the nature of laws. People did not have a chance to fight to stay in America.

An example of immigration harm in our world today is president Trump pushing to send back 11 million undocumented immigrants. The government is spending a mass amount of taxpayer’s money by trying to send back immigrants who are in American working towards a better life. The Trump administration has an aggressive plan to stop immigration. We constantly see in our media that we need to get rid of Syrian refugees because they could be linked to Terrorism, and we need to send back Mexicans because they are taking American jobs. Most of the jobs Mexicans are doing, Americans would never do because they are to prideful and the work is to “hard”. These people are coming here for a better life, and just want a chance.

In conclusion, we see that there are many examples to prove Kanstroom to be correct in his statement. The American people show that deportation does no good in our country, it only holds people back for more. The entire system is wrong, and causes harm on many people. The policy’s being produced cause the American people to be racist and racially profile others, this causes stereotypes on people simply because there look different or have a different skin color.

Works Cited

Kanstroom, D. (2007 ). Deportation Nation . Harvard University Press.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-trumps-new-plan-affects-the-11-million-undocumented-immigrants-in-the-u-s/