Post-Return Trajectories of Deported and Coerced Returnees: A Qualitative Study
Student Presentation and AI Guidelines
Poem Performance: A student opened the lecture by reading a poem titled "Adios Consolumu Plavlo" by Willie Perlomo. Key imagery mentioned includes sharp sounds, jabs, stories, walls, solos, sacrifice, bread, flames, and balloons. The poem describes a soul "drowning and whispering."
End-of-Semester Logistics: The next week will be dedicated to group presentations followed by class-wide conversations. Students are encouraged to develop questions to engage the entire class.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy: AI should be used as an "extra" to refine or improve existing work rather than a "crutch" for generating original ideas. The professor emphasized that relying on AI for ideas prevents students from learning how to do the work themselves.
Research Overview: Post-Return Trajectories
Research Title: "Return to The United States or stay in Mexico, understanding post return trajectories of reported and coerced returned persons."
Central Research Question: What factors shape post-return trajectories that lead deported and returned persons to stay in Mexico, return to the US, or move between countries?
Study Background: * Conducted by a group of law professors between 2019 and 2021. * Sample size: 301 returned individuals from Mexico to the US. * Additional Data: Interviews with 35 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and government officials. * Methodology Adaptation: Interviews shifted from in-person to phone and Zoom due to COVID-19. All data remained confidential using student participants. * Demographic Focus: The study specifically sought out women (who make up only 2% of deportees, as 98% are men) and people residing in non-border regional cities or Mexico City.
Human Subjects Review: The study received permission from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) following federal ethical laws.
Participant Sourcing: Flyering was done via nonprofit social media, personal Facebook pages, and even at airports. Only 19% of participants had actually used or knew about existing nonprofit services for deportees.
Long-term Data: A follow-up study conducted this semester includes interviews with 134 people from the original 300 to assess their status five years later.
Quantitative Demographics and Fluency
Status Breakdown: * 74% deported: Involves a state process between US and Mexican authorities. * 26% returned: People who crossed back of their own accord (harder to track and research).
Gender and Education: * Deported: 88% men; predominantly high school education. * Returned: More even gender split (slightly more women than men); tended to have higher rates of higher education.
Language Proficiency: * English Proficiency: High in both groups, though slightly lower among the deported. Reasons include working low-end jobs (e.g., dishwasher, busboy) with other Spanish speakers and being in the US for shorter periods (0–2 years). * Spanish Proficiency: Generally good, but some deportees who arrived in the US as children grew up as "second or third generation" types who understand Spanish but respond in English. Some did not know they were unauthorized until the deportation process began.
Duration of Residence: 80% of the deported and 73% of the returned had lived in the US for 8–10+ years. Some had been in the US for 40–50 years as Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs) without realizing they were deportable.
Sociopolitical Context and the "Deportation Machine"
1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA): The last amnesty under President Reagan. 3,400,000 unauthorized immigrants (75% Mexican) received Lawful Permanent Residence. It included amnesty, employer sanctions (often bypassed by subcontracting), and increased border control (drones, heat sensors, walls).
Criminal Alien Program (CAP): Historically the most important deportation mechanism. ICE/INS would pick up unauthorized persons or LPRs directly from prison after they served their sentences.
1996 Legislation (IRA IRA and ADEPA): Made non-citizens deportable for two misdemeanors (counted as an aggravated felony). These laws were retroactive.
2005 REAL ID Act: Restricted driver’s licenses to those with Social Security numbers, making driving a primary risk factor for deportation.
2013 Secured Communities: Under this program, fingerprints of anyone booked (not necessarily convicted) are sent to DHS and ICE.
Recent Policies: * Title 42: A 1932 health policy used during COVID to close borders. * Remain in Mexico: Required asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while their cases were processed. * President Obama: Referred to as the "Deporter in Chief" for deporting more people than any other president.
Mechanisms and Triggers for Deportation
Traffic Violations (23%): Includes minor issues like a light out near a license plate or failure to use a turn signal. Leads to booking for driving without papers.
Work Raids: Common in agriculture. Agricultural associations (milk and crop producers) admit that 90–100% of their workers are unauthorized because native-born workers refuse the labor.
Checkpoints: Examples include pool cleaners accidentally passing through checkpoints while following new addresses.
Employer/Customer Malice: Employers may call ICE to avoid paying wages (wage theft); customers in restaurants have also been known to call.
Criminal Grounds: Includes drug possession and domestic violence.
Criminal Reentry: Returning to the US after a prior deportation is a felony with a potential 20-year jail sentence.
Gang Activity: Some negotiated deportation and a hefty fine (e.g., ) to avoid long prison sentences (e.g., 40 years).
Categories of Returnees
Autonomous/Planned Return (2%): Minority group. Includes professionals seeking "human capital" for children or "target earners" saving for specific items like a tractor or home.
Collateral Constrained Return: When a family returns because the husband was deported. * Challenges: Includes education barriers for children who cannot read/write Spanish and the high cost of "Apostille" school records (expert-certified, government-stamped documents).
Pre-DACA Dreamers: Individuals who returned before 2012 specifically to attend university because they had no path to higher education in the US.
Coerced Return (Self-Deportation): People who leave due to extreme racism and surveillance anxiety. Physical symptoms reported include eczema and extreme dizziness.
Tactical Trajectories: * Quick deportations: Processed in 2–3 days. * Protracted deportations: Held in detention for months or years.
Post-Return Integration: Rooted vs. Unrooted
The "Rooted" (Integration into Mexico): * Rooted in Family: Igniting ties with Mexican relatives; whole families staying together. * Rooted in Work: Call centers (Verizon, DIRECTV, banks) are major employers. English fluency allows for higher pay in Mexico than unauthorized work in the US, despite the high stress of reading scripts. * Rooted in Freedom: Being free from the fear of the "deportation regime." * Rooted in Hope: Staying in Mexico while waiting for a legal pathway (e.g., a child turning 21 or a 5-year "bar" ending). Most are ineligible for pardons but remain in Mexico as they wait.
The "Unrooted" (Struggling to Integrate): * Suspended in the US: Persons who grew up in the US and feel American. They live in border towns (Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez) in English-speaking enclaves, working in call centers, and waiting for US family to visit. * Internal Refugees: Mexicans who are "unauthorized in their own country." They lack the "INE" (National Electoral Institute) ID card because they cannot produce birth certificates from towns currently controlled by narcos (Chiapas, Oaxaca, Tabasco). Without an ID, they cannot rent, work legally, or pick up Western Union money orders.
Personal Case Studies
Lupita and Juan: Collateral returns to Veracruz. Moved back to Kentucky on an asylum claim after narcos left bodies in the empty lot next to their house. Lupita sent photos of "home": a school bus, her son playing the cello, and steaks with Montreal seasoning, symbolizing the ability to eat until full.
Arturo: Deported after 24 years in California. Now 62 and an internal refugee without documents. He works as a standby delivery driver for Amazon on a motorcycle. He describes himself as "divided"—emotionally in Mexico, professionally in the US.
Gloria: Deported multiple times (once for accidentally crossing the border while doing DoorDash). She is now "Rooted in Freedom" in a small town in Jalisco. She bought her own home and works as a translator, describing herself as a "badass."
Questions & Discussion
Question: Does the Criminal Alien Program (CAP) deport every criminal released from prison, or do they pick and choose?
Response: Non-citizen criminals and unauthorized persons are almost surely deported once they finish their time. It is designed to capture everyone in that specific demographic.
Policy Recommendations
Visitor Visas: Easing access to visitor visas would reduce the pressure on transnational families to cross illegally just to see relatives.
Bilateral Agreements: The US should adhere to the 10 AM to 6 PM deportation window to ensure Mexican authorities are open to provide bus tickets and services.
National ID Access: Mexico must create easier pathways for returnees to get ID cards to prevent "internal unauthorized" status.
Nonprofit Access: The government should allow NGOs access to newly deported persons at the border to help them integrate immediately.