Tu Padre Siempre Serà Tu Padre: Deportation of Latino Fathers Across Different Familial Structures

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Abstract

Using legal violence as a theoretical framework and the concept of multigenerational punishment, this paper explores the experiences of families who have undergone a father’s deportation proceedings. Specifically, this paper examines these experiences across two familial structures, nuclear families and single mother-led households. Findings come from 15 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 11 families who had previously experienced deportation proceedings against their father. Of these families, 6 were considered single mother-led families and 5 were considered nuclear families. Unlike nuclear families, single mother-led families tended to not have close family ties nor daily interactions with their fathers. Yet, both these families tended to describe deportation proceedings as disruptive and altering to their lives. Although mothers from across familial structures tended to support fathers undergoing deportation proceedings, children from nuclear families tended to experience economic hardships and a loss of time with their mothers as a result of them having to enter the labor force. Single mother led households, on the other hand, tended to have already developed economic resources of support capable to withstand the absence of a father. The removal of a father, then, did not signify an economic disruption to family life. By exploring how these two familial structures respond to the legalized violence of deportation proceedings, I advance these concepts by showing how even without close family ties and daily interactions, the removal of fathers disrupts family life.

Author

• Blanca Araceli Ramirez, University of Southern California