1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,720 Speaker 1: Despite the fact that US officials have targeted people for 2 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:07,600 Speaker 1: so many different reasons, the vast majority eighty five ninety 3 00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:10,479 Speaker 1: percent of people throughout US history who have been deported 4 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: have been Mexicans that have done nothing other than enter 5 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:16,079 Speaker 1: the country without inspection. 6 00:00:20,079 --> 00:00:23,760 Speaker 2: From futuro media. It's Latino Usa. I'm Maria Ino Kosat 7 00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:37,239 Speaker 2: today breaking down the United States deportation machine. There's a 8 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 2: good chance that during this pandemic you've had something of 9 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:46,000 Speaker 2: an awakening around the importance of immigrant labor. In fact, 10 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:52,839 Speaker 2: you've probably benefited from immigrant labor, likely just today. Maybe 11 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 2: it was immigrants who picked the fresh produce sitting in 12 00:00:55,960 --> 00:01:00,640 Speaker 2: your fridge, or maybe that's how your online delivery arrived 13 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:04,560 Speaker 2: at your door this morning. The United States wouldn't operate 14 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:08,600 Speaker 2: without its immigrant workforce, and that's held true for most 15 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:12,800 Speaker 2: of this country's history. And yet many of those same 16 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:18,319 Speaker 2: essential workers are also constantly living under threat of the 17 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:23,080 Speaker 2: deportation machine. That's how Professor Adam Goodman describes the United 18 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 2: States systemic efforts to expel non citizens. Goodman, a professor 19 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:31,120 Speaker 2: of Latin American and Latino studies at the University of 20 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:35,760 Speaker 2: Illinois at Chicago, spent the last ten years researching this 21 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:40,640 Speaker 2: history for his book The Deportation Machine, America's long History 22 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:45,560 Speaker 2: of expelling immigrants. Through the book, Professor Goodman explores how 23 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 2: the machine actually works. The deportation of immigrants has been 24 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:57,840 Speaker 2: enabled and enforced by Republican and Democratic administrations alike for 25 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:02,680 Speaker 2: well over a century, but it's not just a policy issue. 26 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:08,000 Speaker 2: Persistent fear campaigns, social exclusion, and threats of violence and 27 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:12,000 Speaker 2: incarceration have forced tens of millions of people out of 28 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:17,200 Speaker 2: the United States, most of it through unofficial means. Goodman's 29 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:21,560 Speaker 2: research also confirmed that the vast majority of deported immigrants 30 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:25,960 Speaker 2: throughout US history have been Mexican. During the twentieth century, 31 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:30,639 Speaker 2: US businesses became dependent on cheap labor from Mexican immigrants 32 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:34,880 Speaker 2: and actively recruited them into the country, which, by the way, 33 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 2: is still happening today. In the years since the concept 34 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 2: of an undocumented immigrant was codified through a series of 35 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:49,720 Speaker 2: federal policies, anti Mexican racism was often used to justify 36 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:53,919 Speaker 2: harsher and more punitive deportation efforts, and it's a trend 37 00:02:54,040 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 2: explicitly continued by the current Trump administration. On this episode 38 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 2: of Latino USA, Professor Goodman gives us a crash course 39 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:09,520 Speaker 2: on the history of migrant exploitation and expulsion from this country, 40 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:13,400 Speaker 2: and he lays out how the deportation machine is still 41 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:20,040 Speaker 2: alive and well and running today. Professor Adam Goodman, Welcome 42 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:20,959 Speaker 2: to Latino, USA. 43 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:23,720 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me, Maria. 44 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:28,919 Speaker 2: So I've been reporting on deportation since the very first 45 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:33,040 Speaker 2: days of my career, and that's many decades ago. So 46 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:37,560 Speaker 2: it's kind of been my life's work to understand deportation 47 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:41,200 Speaker 2: and report about it. But at what point when you 48 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 2: were kind of doing your research you had to have 49 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 2: an aha moment, because everybody does when they kind of 50 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 2: pull back and you're like, oh, wait, this is this 51 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:55,000 Speaker 2: is not just Republicans, this is democrats, and this is 52 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:58,880 Speaker 2: not just modern It's not just in the past. You know, 53 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 2: thirty years ago, this has been happening. This is like 54 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:08,120 Speaker 2: an essential part of the American experiment. Do you remember 55 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:11,440 Speaker 2: when you had that moment of like, whoa wait what? 56 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 1: I think it was really learning more about the United 57 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:18,480 Speaker 1: States and its mythical reputation as a nation of immigrants. 58 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 1: There actually is a long bipartisan history of deportation from 59 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 1: the United States, not just Trump, not just Obama, George W. 60 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 1: Bush or Bill Clinton for that matter, but one hundred 61 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:33,760 Speaker 1: and forty year history that I traced in this book 62 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:39,080 Speaker 1: and in learning about that while also confronting the facts, 63 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:42,599 Speaker 1: I was finding in the archives and the oral histories 64 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:45,839 Speaker 1: and conversations I had with people in the United States 65 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: and in Mexico that their experiences didn't match up with 66 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:54,320 Speaker 1: that nation of immigrants narrative, the narrative of the American dream. 67 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:57,080 Speaker 1: It matched up with a much different story. And I 68 00:04:57,080 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 1: think the flip side of the coin, which is that 69 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 1: the United States, as much as it is welcomed immigrants, 70 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 1: has also been incredibly selective in excluding certain groups and 71 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: expelling groups and making really clear divisions about who belongs 72 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:14,360 Speaker 1: who does not. And that's the question that I begin 73 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:16,800 Speaker 1: the book with, is what kind of nation is the 74 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:21,000 Speaker 1: United States? And I think those two are always intention 75 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:24,360 Speaker 1: the nation that welcomes immigrants as well as the nation 76 00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:25,600 Speaker 1: that expels immigrants. 77 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 2: You're basically saying it's not just that deportation has existed, 78 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:35,159 Speaker 2: it's that there's a machinery, that there's a kind of 79 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:41,200 Speaker 2: even ideology around deportation. And you basically argue that deportation 80 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:44,680 Speaker 2: has always been at the heart of the history of 81 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:47,600 Speaker 2: the United States, whether it's from the economy to law 82 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:52,400 Speaker 2: enforcement to stereotypes in the media. So let's kind of 83 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:54,800 Speaker 2: break that if you could, because that's a big idea. 84 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:56,720 Speaker 2: Some people are just like, wait, what are you talking about. 85 00:05:56,920 --> 00:05:59,279 Speaker 2: You know, we learned about the Statue of Liberty. We 86 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:02,320 Speaker 2: didn't learn that were being deported for years, over one 87 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 2: hundred years. So how has the deportation of immigrants been 88 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:08,080 Speaker 2: central to the narrative of this country? 89 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:12,000 Speaker 1: I mean, on the one hand, deportation has been used 90 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:18,760 Speaker 1: strategically to maintain an exploitable migrant labor force, and the 91 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 1: need for migrant labor is certainly not new. I mean, 92 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:23,320 Speaker 1: we could think back to the Irish of the mid 93 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:26,919 Speaker 1: nineteenth century, of the Chinese and Japanese in the late 94 00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:30,640 Speaker 1: nineteenth turn of the twentieth century, Southern and Eastern Europeans 95 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:34,240 Speaker 1: in that same period, and then for much of the 96 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:37,279 Speaker 1: last century Mexican migrants as all those other groups were 97 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:41,960 Speaker 1: excluded by US laws and policies, employers and the federal government, 98 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:44,640 Speaker 1: and consumers, all of us, in other words, came to 99 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:49,000 Speaker 1: depend in large part on Mexican labor. And Mexicans were 100 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 1: welcomed into the country as labors, but they were not 101 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:57,360 Speaker 1: historically at least welcomed as full members of society or 102 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: as citizens. The United States is the port fifty seven 103 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:07,040 Speaker 1: million people since the eighteen eighties. Now close to nine 104 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:10,240 Speaker 1: out of ten of those fifty seven million deportations have 105 00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:15,120 Speaker 1: been of Mexicans, and that disproportionate targeting of a single 106 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:19,240 Speaker 1: group has also, I think had a real impact and 107 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:23,240 Speaker 1: shaping ideas of politicians and of the media and perhaps 108 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 1: many people in the general public as well about who 109 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 1: is and who is not American. So it's the bureaucratic 110 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:36,160 Speaker 1: processes as well as the need for the exploitable migrant 111 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:40,880 Speaker 1: labor force that has drawn these real clear dividing lines. 112 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:44,640 Speaker 2: You have to kind of look at who's writing the history, 113 00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 2: who's writing the books that kids are being taught, and 114 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:52,840 Speaker 2: then you understand the prism through which deportation is or 115 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 2: is not being talked about. And in fact, that's one 116 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:58,040 Speaker 2: of the things that you bring up in your book, 117 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:01,480 Speaker 2: which is and this is where it gets really sinister, 118 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:06,160 Speaker 2: because you talk about how hard it was to get 119 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:11,960 Speaker 2: information about deportations, and so you say, quote, it was 120 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:16,680 Speaker 2: designed to leave no paper trail. So well, how hard 121 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:21,240 Speaker 2: was it, in fact to discover this information? And is 122 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:22,600 Speaker 2: that in fact part of the plan? 123 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 1: It was extraordinarily difficult, and that's part of the reason 124 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:29,600 Speaker 1: it took me a decade to research and write this book, 125 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:33,880 Speaker 1: you know. But slowly but surely the pieces came together 126 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:38,040 Speaker 1: and I was able to put together this broader history 127 00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:41,960 Speaker 1: of the deportation machine, how and why I was constructed, 128 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 1: and how it's operated, and how it's changed during the 129 00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:48,520 Speaker 1: last century and a half. But your question also brings 130 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:52,360 Speaker 1: up an important point, and that's that the vast majority 131 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:56,040 Speaker 1: of deportations throughout US history have happened without due process. 132 00:08:57,280 --> 00:09:02,960 Speaker 1: The United States deportation machine depends on extraordinary discretionary power 133 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:06,800 Speaker 1: that's instilled in low level agents of the state, border 134 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:12,840 Speaker 1: patrol agents, and immigration investigators that have the power to 135 00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 1: decide whether or not to apprehend someone and in many cases, 136 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:19,840 Speaker 1: whether or not to expel them. And we certainly have 137 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:25,120 Speaker 1: seen how and why it's problematic to instill extraordinary power 138 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 1: and low level officials, whether that's the police on our 139 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:34,040 Speaker 1: city streets or border patrol agents and immigration investigators. But 140 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:38,840 Speaker 1: the deportation machine is operated based on the unilateral power 141 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:42,839 Speaker 1: of low level officials within a historically racist institution. 142 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:47,840 Speaker 2: So we hear a lot about these essentially formal deportations. 143 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:53,880 Speaker 2: These are deportations that happen after an immigration hearing or 144 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:57,240 Speaker 2: a judicial order. But in your book you also talk 145 00:09:57,280 --> 00:10:01,640 Speaker 2: about other kinds of deportation. There's this term, you know, 146 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:06,000 Speaker 2: self deportation, which is basically when people just they're like exhausted, 147 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:08,920 Speaker 2: they're fed up, and so they leave the country. So 148 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:11,200 Speaker 2: can you talk a little bit more about these other 149 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:13,280 Speaker 2: kinds of expulsions. 150 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:16,120 Speaker 1: Well, we hear about most in the news or the 151 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:20,560 Speaker 1: formal deportations. These were the four hundred thousand deportations a 152 00:10:20,679 --> 00:10:24,280 Speaker 1: year under the Obama administration that made the news so often, 153 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:27,800 Speaker 1: But these are but a small sliver of the total 154 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:31,520 Speaker 1: number of expulsions from the United States. Now, they carry 155 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:35,920 Speaker 1: with them harsher consequences, sometimes extended or indefinite periods and 156 00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:40,440 Speaker 1: detention as well lifetime bands or multi year up to 157 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:44,240 Speaker 1: lifetime bans on returning to the US. And what immigration 158 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:49,200 Speaker 1: officials have done is leveraged these harsh penalties that are 159 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:56,280 Speaker 1: associated with formal deportations to coerce people into voluntary departure. Now, 160 00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:59,760 Speaker 1: I put voluntary departure in quotes because there's nothing voluntary 161 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:03,679 Speaker 1: about them. These are administrative expulsions. They operate in a 162 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:07,640 Speaker 1: similar way as plea bargains in the criminal justice system, 163 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:12,880 Speaker 1: by threatening people with formal deportation and forcing or coercing 164 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:15,840 Speaker 1: them to agree to leave the country supposedly on their own. 165 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:19,840 Speaker 1: But as I show in the book, it's under coercive circumstances. 166 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:24,520 Speaker 1: But it's also these broad based fear campaigns, immigration rates 167 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:28,800 Speaker 1: and the propagation of the fear through the media, as 168 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:32,079 Speaker 1: well as restrictive immigration laws at the local and state levels, 169 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 1: the threat of violence, which is very real, and I 170 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:40,559 Speaker 1: think people understand that that combine to make people's lives 171 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:44,840 Speaker 1: miserable until they say that they're going to pick up 172 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:49,120 Speaker 1: and leave now. Rather than think about this as immigrants, 173 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 1: as rational decision makers deciding to leave on their own, 174 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:55,880 Speaker 1: I think we need to understand that as part of 175 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:01,720 Speaker 1: the government and sometimes ordinary Americans strategy to push people out. 176 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:07,880 Speaker 2: The first people who were actually excluded were actually Chinese women. 177 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:10,440 Speaker 2: They were the first ones who were told by law 178 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:13,679 Speaker 2: like you can't come. And then it was the Chinese 179 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:17,839 Speaker 2: Exclusion Act and I'm just wondering, how does it move 180 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:23,520 Speaker 2: from the exclusion of Chinese immigrants to then specifically targeting 181 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:24,760 Speaker 2: Mexican immigrants. 182 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:28,960 Speaker 1: So in the late nineteenth century, immigration officials as well 183 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:33,120 Speaker 1: as many residents of the West Coast targeted the Chinese 184 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:39,120 Speaker 1: migrants and specifically Chinese laborers for exclusion and for expulsion, 185 00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:42,160 Speaker 1: in part because they saw them as a racial and 186 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:45,000 Speaker 1: a cultural threat to the United States, in part because 187 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:47,600 Speaker 1: they saw them as an economic threat, perhaps a public 188 00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:51,920 Speaker 1: health threat, and there's the combination of those factors. They 189 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:57,840 Speaker 1: really riled people up and encouraged people to organize extraordinarily 190 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:01,960 Speaker 1: violent expulsion campaigns in hopes of pushing the federal government 191 00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:07,920 Speaker 1: to pass federal legislation that would exclude Chinese migrants from 192 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:13,160 Speaker 1: the country. They're successful. Now, people continue to act out 193 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:15,560 Speaker 1: on a local level, and officials continue to depend on 194 00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:20,480 Speaker 1: these informal, coercive means of expulsion. But after eighteen eighty 195 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:23,679 Speaker 1: two the Chinese Exclusion Act, which is renewed and in 196 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:28,040 Speaker 1: fact expanded over time, it's much harder for Chinese labors 197 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:31,520 Speaker 1: to enter the United States. Many employers then turned into 198 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:35,520 Speaker 1: Japanese labors. After the nineteen oh seven Gentlemen's Agreement between 199 00:13:35,679 --> 00:13:38,880 Speaker 1: the United States and Japan more or less cuts off 200 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:42,920 Speaker 1: the flow of Japanese labors. Employers turn more and more 201 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:47,760 Speaker 1: to Mexicans, and for the next century, the nation becomes 202 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,920 Speaker 1: entirely dependent in many ways on Mexican labor. Mexicans came 203 00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:55,600 Speaker 1: to represent both the source of labor that was so 204 00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:59,240 Speaker 1: needed and effect sought out in this country. Many US 205 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:02,240 Speaker 1: companies sent labor recruiters to the US Mexico border and 206 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:06,400 Speaker 1: sometimes even into Mexico. And on the flip side, they 207 00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:09,440 Speaker 1: were not welcomed as full members society. They're not welcomed 208 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:13,800 Speaker 1: as citizens, and they lived under the threat of deportation. 209 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:27,680 Speaker 2: Coming up on that, you know, USA, the deportation machine 210 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:31,560 Speaker 2: is still alive and well. In twenty twenty, we hear 211 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:35,120 Speaker 2: more about what makes it tick, how it operates today, 212 00:14:35,600 --> 00:15:27,280 Speaker 2: and efforts to break it down for good Stay with us. Yes, Hey, 213 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:30,520 Speaker 2: we're back and we've been speaking with Professor Adam Goodman. 214 00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:34,840 Speaker 2: He's the author of the recently released book The Deportation Machine, 215 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:38,920 Speaker 2: America's Long History of expelling immigrants. We're going to rejoin 216 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:41,520 Speaker 2: that conversation now, and Professor Goodman is going to walk 217 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:45,520 Speaker 2: us through how the machine is still firing on all 218 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:51,680 Speaker 2: cylinders today. It is pretty hard to ignore the role 219 00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:55,240 Speaker 2: that race and eugenics and white supremacy play. Here in 220 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:59,320 Speaker 2: your book, you outline the success of something called and 221 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:02,560 Speaker 2: It's a slurry here, Operation Went Back. This was a 222 00:16:02,640 --> 00:16:07,520 Speaker 2: coordinated effort to expel tens of thousands of Mexican laborers 223 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:10,480 Speaker 2: from the country in the nineteen fifties. And you know, 224 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:15,440 Speaker 2: even that name, it really shows how comfortable the government 225 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:19,880 Speaker 2: and officials have been with not only racist language but 226 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:24,080 Speaker 2: racist tactics. And you know that was pretty recent history. 227 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:27,160 Speaker 2: So when you analyze it through this lens, how does 228 00:16:27,320 --> 00:16:31,640 Speaker 2: racism and white supremacy keep the deportation machine running. 229 00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:35,680 Speaker 1: One of the things that I realized and researching the 230 00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:42,480 Speaker 1: book is that the disproportionate targeting of Mexicans wasn't just 231 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:46,960 Speaker 1: in response to anti Mexican racism, but it actually played 232 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:52,800 Speaker 1: a formative role in furthering and reifying and solidifying anti 233 00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:57,600 Speaker 1: Mexican racism. So, after the Brasero program, the temporary migrant 234 00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:01,360 Speaker 1: labor program that brought four hundred thousand or so Mexican 235 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:04,240 Speaker 1: migrant labors to the United States on short term contracts 236 00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:08,480 Speaker 1: from nineteen forty two to nineteen sixty four. After that ended, 237 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:11,639 Speaker 1: and after the nineteen sixty five Immigration Act passed for 238 00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:13,960 Speaker 1: the first time ever, putting a cap on the number 239 00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:16,399 Speaker 1: of migrants that could enter from the Western hemisphere. In 240 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:20,960 Speaker 1: other words, Mexicans, people from the Caribbean and elsewhere. After 241 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:23,199 Speaker 1: the Pursera program ended and after the nineteen sixty five 242 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:27,520 Speaker 1: immigration law went into effect, the country still needed labors, 243 00:17:27,600 --> 00:17:30,880 Speaker 1: and Mexicans continued to pride that labor. Now they were 244 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:34,440 Speaker 1: considered undocumented. So as that change in state policy that 245 00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:38,600 Speaker 1: created our problem of undocumented immigration, I think it's an 246 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:42,320 Speaker 1: entirely solvable, fixable problem, and legislatively that might not be 247 00:17:42,359 --> 00:17:45,600 Speaker 1: the political will to do so. But what happened in 248 00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:51,560 Speaker 1: the decades ahead is that immigration officials continued to deport Mexicans, 249 00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:55,960 Speaker 1: and because the border was still relatively porous, Mexicans after 250 00:17:56,040 --> 00:17:59,560 Speaker 1: deportation could return to the United States, returned to their 251 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:02,160 Speaker 1: job and returned to their families because many of them 252 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:04,600 Speaker 1: had lived in the country for years or even decades 253 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:08,600 Speaker 1: at that point, and there became a circular migration pattern. 254 00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:12,399 Speaker 1: It worked on the one hand for employers, it worked 255 00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:14,879 Speaker 1: on the other hand for the Immigration Service, who could 256 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:19,080 Speaker 1: inflate their deportation statistics, which made them look good and 257 00:18:19,119 --> 00:18:22,720 Speaker 1: also gave them a reason to request more money from Congress. 258 00:18:23,359 --> 00:18:26,800 Speaker 1: But what most scholars haven't recognized is that this was 259 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:31,600 Speaker 1: an entirely punitive cycle. If you think about the impact 260 00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:33,959 Speaker 1: it has on someone to live under the threat of deportation, 261 00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:37,679 Speaker 1: to have the possibility of being apprehended and expelled on 262 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:40,560 Speaker 1: a daily basis, if you think of the human toll 263 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:43,159 Speaker 1: that that takes, then I think we don't see this 264 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:45,520 Speaker 1: as a nod in the wing system that worked for 265 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:48,440 Speaker 1: employers and worked for the Immigration Service, but in fact, 266 00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:51,160 Speaker 1: we see it as an entirely punitive process that took 267 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:55,000 Speaker 1: a real toll on individuals. And it also I think, 268 00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:57,920 Speaker 1: shaped ideas about who is and who is not American 269 00:18:58,440 --> 00:19:00,960 Speaker 1: and doubled down on antime Mexican racism. 270 00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:04,439 Speaker 2: Right, and of course, I mean it's still happening. Donald 271 00:19:04,440 --> 00:19:07,520 Speaker 2: Trump basically takes this idea and he runs with it. 272 00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:09,600 Speaker 2: And we saw this from the very start of his 273 00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:15,240 Speaker 2: presidential campaign where he cites immigrants and specifically Mexicans, as 274 00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:19,639 Speaker 2: being the essential carriers of all the problems that exist 275 00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:23,760 Speaker 2: in this country. So how exactly did the machines messaging 276 00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:28,479 Speaker 2: get this targeted and really kind of focused on a 277 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:32,639 Speaker 2: specific group of immigrants that would be Mexicans. How did 278 00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:33,159 Speaker 2: that happen? 279 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:36,560 Speaker 1: This false binary between us and them, which we've seen 280 00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:41,280 Speaker 1: the current administration use time and again to justify racist, 281 00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:45,040 Speaker 1: inhumane policies. I mean, I do not think this is new. 282 00:19:45,560 --> 00:19:49,680 Speaker 1: The headlines and the newspapers across more than a century, 283 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:53,639 Speaker 1: they're fairly similar. I mean, if I gave you five headlines, 284 00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:57,240 Speaker 1: one from the late nineteenth century, one from the nineteen teens, 285 00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:01,240 Speaker 1: another from the nineteen thirties, nineteen f fifties, nineteen seventies, 286 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:04,760 Speaker 1: and today, you wouldn't be able to tell what decade 287 00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:07,840 Speaker 1: they were from if I took the dates off. So 288 00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:12,320 Speaker 1: think about one example. So in the mid nineteen fifties, 289 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:17,200 Speaker 1: I document the deportation of nearly fifty thousand Mexicans across 290 00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:21,879 Speaker 1: the Gulf of Mexico on transportation cargo ships. Now, the 291 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:25,679 Speaker 1: US government collaborated with Mexican officials in this operation, and 292 00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:30,440 Speaker 1: they hired Mexican companies to carry it out. They took 293 00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:35,040 Speaker 1: bananas from the Mexican state of Tabasco, transported them to 294 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:38,240 Speaker 1: states in the US. South like Alabama, and then on 295 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:41,800 Speaker 1: the return trip swung by Port Isabel, Texas to pick 296 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:46,120 Speaker 1: up Mexican deportees for transportation to Vera Cruz. And now 297 00:20:46,359 --> 00:20:51,159 Speaker 1: this flow of cargo north and south, because that is 298 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:55,600 Speaker 1: how the US officials, that is how the company officials 299 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:59,080 Speaker 1: described the deportise. They were considered human cargo, and it 300 00:20:59,119 --> 00:21:01,960 Speaker 1: was meant, in fact, to discourage them from returning to 301 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:04,280 Speaker 1: the United States. It was perhaps a precursor to what 302 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:07,480 Speaker 1: we think of today as prevention through deterrence policies, which 303 00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:10,720 Speaker 1: we've heard about recently with the Trump administration separation of 304 00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:15,280 Speaker 1: Central American asylum seeking families, or the border militarization policies 305 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:17,960 Speaker 1: in the nineteen nineties. Now, what we know is that 306 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:21,119 Speaker 1: none of these policies have stopped people from migrating and 307 00:21:21,119 --> 00:21:26,720 Speaker 1: crossing the border, but they have exacted an extraordinary human cost, 308 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:29,679 Speaker 1: and US officials have been okay with that. And I 309 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:32,480 Speaker 1: should mention that Mexican officials at certain points in history 310 00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:36,520 Speaker 1: have been as well because of how they saw Mexican 311 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:39,560 Speaker 1: migrants and the racist language they used to describe them 312 00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:43,760 Speaker 1: made that clear, saying that the conditions aboard the boats 313 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:49,640 Speaker 1: are justifiable considering the type of people being transported. Those 314 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:50,439 Speaker 1: are their words. 315 00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:54,719 Speaker 2: You know, some people might think that the deportation is 316 00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:58,479 Speaker 2: the worst thing that happens, but you actually prefer the 317 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:02,959 Speaker 2: fact that living under the constant threat of deportation is 318 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:07,000 Speaker 2: for many Mexicans and Latinos, it's something that you can't 319 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:11,240 Speaker 2: get over. It's the kind of thing that marks you psychologically, emotionally, spiritually. 320 00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:14,879 Speaker 2: You also talk though about how immigrants and allies in 321 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:17,879 Speaker 2: this country haven't just taken this line down, that they're 322 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:22,359 Speaker 2: constantly pushing back against these restrictive and racist policies. And 323 00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:26,439 Speaker 2: I'm wondering, when you're facing a system that builds itself 324 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:31,000 Speaker 2: on secrecy and invisibility, exactly like you've laid out the 325 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:36,640 Speaker 2: deportation machine has, how do people effectively organize then how 326 00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:40,919 Speaker 2: do you fight against this giant system. It's hard to 327 00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:44,000 Speaker 2: see and it's hard to understand, So how do you 328 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:44,400 Speaker 2: do that? 329 00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:49,280 Speaker 1: Regardless of what happens in November, the deportation machine will continue, 330 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:53,120 Speaker 1: regardless of who's in power, Democrat or Republican. The machine 331 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:56,200 Speaker 1: has chugged along over time over the course of the 332 00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:59,600 Speaker 1: last one hundred and fifty years, so there still will 333 00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:03,600 Speaker 1: be work to do. It is extraordinarily important, and I'm 334 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:06,000 Speaker 1: glad you bring up the fact that people have always 335 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:09,080 Speaker 1: fought back against the machine, and one of the things 336 00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:14,119 Speaker 1: activists have done is trying to identify how the machine operates, 337 00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:18,040 Speaker 1: how the machine works, identifying its weak points and then 338 00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:21,959 Speaker 1: applying pressure to them. And those weak points change over time. 339 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:25,360 Speaker 1: But I think what people today can do is not 340 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:28,280 Speaker 1: just to post something on social media, but to investigate 341 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:32,320 Speaker 1: what's happening in your local community, listening to the people 342 00:23:32,359 --> 00:23:34,879 Speaker 1: most affected by these policies, listening to the people who 343 00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:37,359 Speaker 1: are on the front lines, who have long been fighting 344 00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:40,439 Speaker 1: these fights and who need mass support. Because I do 345 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:43,280 Speaker 1: think there's a real opportunity for change. I mean, the 346 00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:47,119 Speaker 1: possibilities I think have shifted as we've seen the Black 347 00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:51,119 Speaker 1: Lives Matter organizing and seeing the potential at least for 348 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:54,240 Speaker 1: radical change when it comes to policing in the United States, 349 00:23:55,119 --> 00:23:58,679 Speaker 1: people have also been pushing for the abolition of ice 350 00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:02,720 Speaker 1: immigrations customs, and that's something we should have on the table. 351 00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:05,119 Speaker 1: We should be thinking about how can we reform and 352 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:08,679 Speaker 1: remake immigration bureaucracy so that it can be more humane, 353 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:11,159 Speaker 1: so that it can actually be a service agency and 354 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:13,520 Speaker 1: not just an enforcement arm of the federal government. 355 00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:19,000 Speaker 2: Immigrants obviously have been central to this country, and you're 356 00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:24,240 Speaker 2: saying so has deportation, which begs the question, the final question, 357 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:29,879 Speaker 2: which is, so who actually benefits? Why keep doing this? 358 00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:31,800 Speaker 2: What is the end goal? 359 00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:36,720 Speaker 1: First and foremost, immigration bureaucracy itself benefits. There's a self 360 00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:41,320 Speaker 1: interest within the Department of Homeland Security today. Regardless of 361 00:24:41,359 --> 00:24:43,920 Speaker 1: which party is in power, or who has the White House, 362 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:48,280 Speaker 1: who controls Congress, the immigration bureaucracy will still see that 363 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:51,520 Speaker 1: it's in its best interest to keep enforcement up. A 364 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:56,160 Speaker 1: second group that certainly benefits are employers and perhaps in 365 00:24:56,200 --> 00:25:00,359 Speaker 1: turn consumers, who take advantage of the exploitable migrane labor 366 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:03,159 Speaker 1: force and the control they exercise over it. The control 367 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:08,720 Speaker 1: of the deportation machine provides them to maintain low wages 368 00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:13,439 Speaker 1: and low costs to consumers, so we're all benefiting in 369 00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:16,960 Speaker 1: a way. The question becomes, then, what would we be 370 00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:20,120 Speaker 1: willing to change and to pay a little bit more 371 00:25:20,119 --> 00:25:24,120 Speaker 1: for products? We'll be willing to understand that the status 372 00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:29,280 Speaker 1: quo isn't sustainable over time, and in fact is in 373 00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:34,159 Speaker 1: conflict with our morals and our political beliefs, and that 374 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:36,640 Speaker 1: raises a number of hard questions, but I think they're 375 00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:40,439 Speaker 1: important questions that we should be asking ourselves and wrestling with. 376 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:48,679 Speaker 2: Professor Adam Goodman. Thank you so much for spending some 377 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:50,320 Speaker 2: time with us on Let You Know USA. 378 00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:51,800 Speaker 1: Thanks so much for having me on. 379 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:59,560 Speaker 2: Adam Goodman's book The Deportation Machine, America's Long History of 380 00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:27,960 Speaker 2: expelling immigrants, is available now. This episode was produced by 381 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:31,760 Speaker 2: Alejandra Sarrassarre and edited by Luis Trees. The Latino USA 382 00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:37,240 Speaker 2: team includes Miel Massias, Andrea Lopez Cruzzalo, Julieta Martinez, Alis Escarce, 383 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:40,560 Speaker 2: and Gini Montalbo, with help this week from Raoul Perees. 384 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:45,080 Speaker 2: Our engineers are Stephanie Lebou, Julia Caruso, and Liashaw, with 385 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:48,320 Speaker 2: help from Alicia ba Itto. Our director of Programming in 386 00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:52,480 Speaker 2: Operations is Natalia Fiederhotz. Our digital editor is Luis Luna. 387 00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:55,879 Speaker 2: Our New York Women's Foundation Ignite fellow is Julia Rocha. 388 00:26:56,280 --> 00:27:01,159 Speaker 2: Our interns are Jimena del Serro, Emiliros and Gavaz. Our 389 00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:04,320 Speaker 2: theme music was composed by Zane Ronos. If you like 390 00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:07,320 Speaker 2: the music you heard on this episode, stop by latinousa 391 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:10,760 Speaker 2: dot org and check out our weekly Spotify playlist. I'm 392 00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:13,720 Speaker 2: your host and executive producer Maria Jojosa. Join us again 393 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:15,840 Speaker 2: on our next episode, and in the meantime, I'll see 394 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:18,879 Speaker 2: you on all of our social media. Hi loos, BeO aste, 395 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:19,879 Speaker 2: la proxima Chao. 396 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:28,919 Speaker 3: Latino USA is made possible in part by Carnegie Corporation, 397 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:34,000 Speaker 3: promoting the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding, the 398 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:39,240 Speaker 3: John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Ford Foundation, 399 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:44,880 Speaker 3: working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. 400 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:48,840 Speaker 2: How's the weather in Chicago? 401 00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:52,320 Speaker 1: You know, it's really rainy here today. It's pretty gray. 402 00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:56,399 Speaker 2: Yeah, dude, it reminds me we have to take that 403 00:27:56,640 --> 00:27:59,480 Speaker 2: from Chicago. You me La, I right, Clado. 404 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:02,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a rough time, bro. 405 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:04,800 Speaker 2: It was a rough time, man when they closed down. 406 00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:07,520 Speaker 2: Because I get a whole box, so I've got like 407 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:12,159 Speaker 2: fifty dozen, you know. I'm Mariao Josa. Next time on 408 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:16,479 Speaker 2: Latino USA, we're going to talk about Latino Republicans. Almost 409 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:20,320 Speaker 2: a third of Latinos and Latinas voted for President Trump 410 00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:23,240 Speaker 2: in twenty sixteen, and they're probably going to do it 411 00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:24,120 Speaker 2: again this year. 412 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:27,040 Speaker 1: Trumple was the man and Trump was good, and I'd 413 00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:29,280 Speaker 1: say I don't want to tok politics. 414 00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:36,680 Speaker 2: That's next time on Latino USA