Undocumented Families in Times of Deportation at the San Diego–Tijuana Border

Author:

Ruiz Marrujo   Olivia T.  

Journal:

Journal of Borderlands Studies

Issue Date:

2014

Abstract(summary):

Immigration policy in recent years has led to the deportation of thousands of undocumented parents of US citizen children. In the first six months of FY 2011, almost 47,000 undocumented parents were deported from the country. This article examines how US policy came to allow, if not prescribe, the separation of undocumented parents from their sons and daughters. Drawing on evidence from the San Diego–Tijuana border, it reviews critical moments in the history of deportation and reflects on how that history laid the groundwork for the complex and dysfunctional connections between the immigration and child welfare systems that have led to forced family separation.

Page:

391-403