Deporting Fathers: Involuntary Transnational Families and Intent to Re-migrate among Salvadoran Deportees

• In Event: 498 - Regular Session. Immigrant Families and Communities: Challenges and Changes

Abstract

One-fourth of all deportees from the United States are parents of U.S.-citizen children. The deportation of these parents creates “involuntary” transnational families where, to reunite with their children, parents either have to remove them from their country of citizenship or re-migrate, facing heavy legal penalties. While past research suggests that many deportees re-migrate, we do not know the extent of this practice or the influence of family structure on re-migration among deportees. In this paper we examined how involuntary transnational family structure affects the intent to re-migrate among a sample of Salvadoran men deported from the United States in 2002. More than half of deportees in our sample had dependent children in the United States; two thirds of these deported parents were also separated from their spouse; and the vast majority—nearly 90%—of dependent children left behind were U.S. citizens. The majority of deportees with dependent children in the United States intended to re-migrate, and family structure was the most important predictor of intent to re-migrate among deportees. We interpret these findings in light of recent immigration policy debates.

Authors

• Jodi Arden Berger Cardoso, University of Texas-Austin

• Erin R. Hamilton, University of California-Davis

• Karl Eschbach, University of Texas-Medical Branch