Deportation and removal from the United States

Deportation and removal from the United States occurs when the U.S. government orders a person to leave the country. In fiscal year 2014, Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted 315,943 removals.[1] Criteria for deportations are set out in 8 U.S.C. § 1227.

A US Border Patrol watches the US-Mexico barrier.

In the 105 years between 1892 and 1997, the United States deported 2.1 million people.[2] Between 1993 and 2001, during the Presidency of Bill Clinton, about 1,870,000 people were deported.[3] Between 2001 and 2008, during the Presidency of George W. Bush, about 2.0 million people were deported, while between 2009 and 2016, during the Presidency of Barack Obama, about 3.2 million people were deported.[4]

History

18th century

The first deportations from the United States took place in 1794 by Massachusetts, following a rush of poor Irish immigrants to the U.S. east coast, under a 1794 Massachusetts law which permitted such deportations.[5]

A few years later, the U.S. Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, under which new powers were granted to deport non-citizens. Specifically, the Alien Enemies Act allowed the U.S. government to deport any male over the age of 14 who was from a nation who was considered an enemy during war. Also, the Alien Friend Act granted the president the power to deport any non-citizen who was suspected to be plotting against the U.S. government.[6]

19th century

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first U.S. law that required the exclusion and deportation of a particular racial group. Chinese immigrants already in the country were only allowed to re-enter the country if they left with certifications.[5] In addition, they were stripped of the right to U.S. citizenship, while the possibility of being deported remained.[7] When the act expired, Congress passed the Geary Act which extended the Chinese Exclusion Act by another ten years, and changed the living conditions for Chinese immigrants living in the U.S. as it stated that they had to have a certificate of residence and could be deported if they didn't have it.[7]

20th century

In 1919 and 1920, thousands of immigrants were deported as the Palmer Raids began to take place. These raids occurred under the Justice Department, and were led by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer who established the General Intelligence Division within the Federal Bureau of Investigation.[8]

The National Immigration Act of 1924 regulated immigration in the U.S. and established a quota for granting visas. Under this law, only 2% of immigrants from a certain nationality were given visas while it did not apply to immigrants from Asia.[9]

In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, over 1.8 million Mexican immigrants were deported, an estimated 60% of whom were U.S. citizens. These deportations became known as the Mexican Repatriation, which tore thousands of families apart. These deportations took place under a lot of local governments through local raids.[10]

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 created preferences for immigration to the U.S. based on desired skilled-workers and family reunification. Aside from that, it also made the process of deportation easier, as it permitted people to be fined as well as arrested if they were living with an undocumented immigrant or rented a home to one.[11] The rise of Mexican deportation continued during World War II, through a program established by the collaboration of the U.S. government and the Mexican government, known as the Bracero Program.[5] This program allowed for the short-term legal immigration of Mexican immigrants to the U.S. for the purposes of filling the gap of agricultural workers due to the war. Along with that, a wave of undocumented Mexican immigrants migrated to the U.S. in search of these job opportunities as well.[5] As a result, Attorney General Herbert Brownell Jr. created Operation Wetback, which was responsible for the deportation of around 300,000 undocumented Mexican immigrants.[12]

In 1996, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 created a new approach to deporting terrorists, as defined by the Act.[13] It did so, by expanding the list of committed crimes that could lead to the deportation of an undocumented immigrant. It also granted the U.S. government power to deport permanent residents who were convicted of an aggravated felony.[14] In addition, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996[5] strengthened the U.S. border control by establishing criminal penalties for things like using fake visas and permitted the deportation of undocumented immigrants who committed a misdemeanor.[15]

21st century
On June 4, 2019 a large group of undocumented immigrants were apprehended by Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents at the U.S.- Mexican Border.

President George W. Bush signed the Homeland Security Act in 2002[16] under which the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was created. Following the establishment of this department, enforcement procedures intensified with the creation of subset organizations such as the Bureau of Border Security along with the creation of the detention and removal program.[17] During Barack Obama's presidency, over 2.5 million undocumented immigrants were deported.[18] Obama focused on the removal of criminals, and passed an executive order titled Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals in 2012, providing temporary amnesty from deportation to undocumented immigrants who migrated to the U.S at a young age.[19] The federal funding for immigration enforcement in 2012 increased to $18 billion, which allowed for the immense increase in illegal immigration enforcement and deportations.[19]

During Donald Trump’s presidency the number of undocumented immigrants deported decreased drastically.[20] While under Trump's presidency, U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement has conducted hundreds of raids in workspaces and sent removal orders to families, they are not deporting as many immigrants as were deported under Obama's presidency. In Obama's first three years in office, around 1.18 million persons were deported, while around 800,000 deportations took place under Trump in his three years of presidency.[20]

Top 10 countries of origin of deportees in the U.S.
Fiscal year 2018[21]
Country of origin Number of deported immigrants
1. Mexico 139,330
2. Guatemala 52,755
3. Honduras 32,180
4. El Salvador 16,141
5. Dominican Republic 1,827
6. Brazil 1,787
7. Ecuador 1,304
8. Colombia 1,157
9. Nicaragua 1,113
10. India 831
Fiscal year 2014[22]
Country of origin Number of deported immigrants
1. Mexico 176,968
2. Guatemala 54,423
3. Honduras 40,695
4. El Salvador 27,180
5. Dominican Republic 2,130
6. Ecuador 1,565
7. Nicaragua 1,266
8. Colombia 1,181
9. Jamaica 938
10. Brazil 850
Fiscal year 2010[23]
Country of origin Number of deported immigrants
1. Mexico 282,242
2. Guatemala 29,378
3. Honduras 24,611
4. El Salvador 19,809
5. Dominican Republic 3,309
6. Brazil 3,109
7. Ecuador 2,321
8. Colombia 2,267
9. Nicaragua 1,847
10. Jamaica 1,475

Court cases

In 1893, Chinese immigrants challenged U.S. deportation laws in Fong Yue Ting v. United States. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the U.S., as a sovereign nation, could deport undocumented immigrants and such immigrants did not have the right to a legal hearing because deportation was a method of enforcing policies and not a punishment for a crime.[5] In Yamataya v. Fisher (1993), also known as the Japanese Immigrant Case, the Supreme Court ruled that the decisions of administrative or executive officers acting under their delegated powers constituted due process of law and were not subject to judicial review.

In fiscal year 2013, 83% of deportation orders came from immigration officers.[24] In 1904, free speech activists attempted to defend an immigrant from England named John Turner, who was a self-proclaimed anarchist, in Turner v. Williams. These activists failed to do so, as the U.S. Supreme Court refused to grant undocumented immigrants the right to freedom of speech and defended the government's power to deport immigrants in this court's ruling.[5]

In April 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision in Barton v. Barr, expanded the list of committed crimes that could lead to the deportation of immigrants, to include those who have green cards.[25] The suit was filed by Jamaican immigrant Andre Barton who tried to get the order for his removal cancelled.[26]

See also
  • List of people deported from the United States

References
  1. "Fiscal Year 2017 ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Report". www.ice.gov. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  2. "Obama Deported More People Than Any Other President?". Snopes.com. October 20, 2016. Retrieved 2016-11-15.
  3. "Ted Cruz gets it very wrong on recent presidents' deportation numbers". The Washington Post. December 16, 2015. Retrieved 2016-11-15.
  4. "Obama deported record number of immigrants, despite Trump's claim". New York Daily News. September 1, 2016. Retrieved 2016-11-15.
  5. "Deportation in the United States | CIVIOS - Your source for public affairs research". Retrieved 2020-04-25.
  6. Editors, History com. "Alien and Sedition Acts". HISTORY. Retrieved 2020-04-25.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  7. "Our Documents - Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)". www.ourdocuments.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  8. "Palmer Raids | History, Facts, & Significance". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  9. "Milestones: 1921–1936 - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  10. Little, Becky. "The U.S. Deported a Million of Its Own Citizens to Mexico During the Great Depression". HISTORY. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  11. "Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952". Immigration to the United States. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  12. "Operation Wetback | United States immigration law-enforcement campaign". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  13. Stephens, Robert W. (2012), "Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (U.S.)", in Loue, Sana; Sajatovic, Martha (eds.), Encyclopedia of Immigrant Health, Springer, pp. 207–208, doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-5659-0_44, ISBN 978-1-4419-5659-0
  14. Dole, Robert J. (1996-04-24). "S.735 - 104th Congress (1995-1996): Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996". www.congress.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  15. "Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act". LII / Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  16. "Homeland Security Act | United States [2002]". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  17. "AILA - Section-by-Section Summary of the Homeland Security Act of 2002". www.aila.org. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  18. "Obama Has Deported More People Than Any Other President". ABC News. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  19. Bolter, Muzaffar Chishti, Sarah Pierce Muzaffar Chishti, Sarah Pierce, and Jessica (2017-01-25). "The Obama Record on Deportations: Deporter in Chief or Not?". migrationpolicy.org. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  20. Budryk, Zack (2019-11-18). "Deportations lower under Trump administration than Obama: report". TheHill. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  21. "Infographic: The Nationalities Deported From The U.S. In 2018". Statista Infographics. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  22. "Fiscal Year 2014 ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Report". www.ice.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  23. "Home". Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  24. https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/120214-expeditedremoval_0.pdf
  25. "Supreme Court rules green card-holding immigrant subject to deportation". Washington Examiner. 2020-04-23. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  26. "Barton v. Barr". Oyez. Chicago-Kent College of Law. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
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