Deportation Stigma and Re-migration

Abstract

Many, if not most, of those who are forcibly expelled from the country to which they have migrated will not settle in the country to which they have been returned but will leave again. A recent article examined some of the reasons why this should be so. It was argued that in addition to the factors that had caused the original migration, such as fear of persecution, continuing conflict, insecurity, poverty and lack of opportunity, deportation creates at least three additional reasons that make re-migration the most likely outcome. These were debt, family commitments and the shame of failure and or ‘contamination’ leading to stigmatisation. In this article, we explore the stigma of failure and of contamination attached to those deported, and the ways in which they respond to and manage this stigmatisation, including by re-migrating. We use Goffman's concept of stigma and the refinement offered by to further nuance understanding of the impact of deportation.

Keywords:

• Deportation
• Migration
• Stigma
• Contamination
• Afghanistan

Acknowledgements

Schuster and Majidi are indebted to the editors and to the anonymous reviewers for their insightful and helpful comments, and to Alice Bloch, Milena Chimienti and John Solomos for comments on an early draught.

Schuster is profoundly grateful to all the families who hosted her but especially Hasidullah, his wife, son and grandson who were unfailingly patient and kind with the strange cuckoo in their nest and to the Leverhulme Trust for funding her time in Afghanistan.

Majidi is indebted to the Social Science Research Council's Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship (DPDF) which funded the second part of the longitudinal study of deportation (2009–2011).

Notes

[1] Where possible—re-migration from Cape Verde, for example, is physically impossible because of the island's position (thanks to Heike Drotbohm, one of the editors, for this point).

[2] As others have noted (Van Hear 2009), it is increasingly difficult to disentangle motivations for migration. Many of those we interviewed and spoke with had left Afghanistan because of the different waves of conflict, though the degree of direct menace to individuals varied. Nonetheless, all assumed that they would be able to contribute to the welfare of their families and many that they would be able to bring their family out. In this paper, we do not therefore disaggregate our interviewees/contacts on the basis of immigration status prior to deportation.

[3] There are many agencies in Afghanistan, especially in Kabul, offering tickets and visas to Australia and Europe for a range of prices and Schuster became used to people asking if she thought that e.g. ‘$18,000 for a ticket and visa’ was a fair price. When she explained that a return ticket from Kabul to Paris and a visa together should cost about $1000 and that any agent that added a fee of $17,000 would be offering services that would not be legal, she was greeted with astonishment and scepticism and asked how they could operate so openly if it was illegal, since many had friends or relations had successfully used these agents—unaware that they might be deported if discovered.

[4] All names have been changed and the number refers to the speaker's age.