Targeting Latino men: mass deportation from the USA, 1998–2012

Abstract

The number of people being removed from the USA on an annual basis is far higher than ever before. The increases in removals since the passage of the 1996 laws have had a disproportionate impact on Mexican and Central American male immigrants. Moreover, the changes made to the laws in 1996 were draconian insofar as they removed judicial discretion in certain removal cases, and the laws were applied retroactively. The raced and gendered disparities in immigration law enforcement are one more instance of institutionalized racism in the USA insofar as these laws primarily harm black and Latino families.

Keywords:

• Latinos
• deportation
• racism
• gender
• immigration policy

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Zulema Valdez for her useful comments.

Notes

1. ‘Immigration Enforcement Actions: 2013’ http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/ois_enforcement_ar_2013.pdf

2. ‘FY 2011 Budget in Brief: Department of Homeland Security’ http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/budget_bib_fy2011.pdf

3. ‘Department of Education Fiscal Year 2011 Budget: Summary and Background Information’ http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget11/summary/11summary.pdf. ‘Department of Justice FY 2011 Budget’ http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/February/10-ag-109.html

4. The OIS provided me with removal data by sex between 1998 and 2011. I requested data going back to 1892 and am still waiting to hear if I am able to obtain more historical data. I acquired the 2012 data from the OIS published report ‘Immigration Enforcement Actions: 2012’ http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/ois_enforcement_ar_2012_1.pdf

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tanya Golash-Boza

Tanya Golash-Boza is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California.