Deportation

More about the book

Before 1882, the U.S. federal government had never formally deported anyone, but that year, an act of Congress made Chinese workers the first immigrants eligible for deportation. Over the next forty years, lawmakers and judges expanded deportable categories to include prostitutes, anarchists, the sick, and various criminals. This evolving list has shaped the policy options U.S. citizens face today. The narrative covers the uncertain beginnings of American deportation policy, detailing the disjointed steps that led to its establishment as national policy by the 1920s. While often viewed from within the nation, deportation policy also intersects with geopolitics, as deportees must be sent somewhere. By examining deportations from the U.S. and the return of U.S. citizens from abroad, Torrie Hester demonstrates that U.S. policymakers participated in a global trend of revising or creating immigrant removal policies. This account serves as a history of immigration policy in the U.S. and worldwide, chronicling the unsystematic emergence of what has become an internationally recognized legal doctrine, profoundly impacting the definitions of immigration and citizenship.