Re-entry and Everyday Life in the United States Post-Deportation

• In Event: Immigration and Justice Issues II

Abstract

This presentation centers the experiences of an understudied segment of the undocumented population: individuals who re-enter the United States post-deportation without authorization. It is based on 71 in-depth interviews with individuals who have returned to the U.S. or have an immediate family member who did. I find that changes in U.S. immigration policies and enforcement practices have led immigrants who have re-entered to experience: (1) added legal ramifications that are significantly more punitive when compared to the undocumented experience without an existing deportation record; (2) chronic financial and housing instability; and (3) accumulated trauma. These circumstances severely undermine individuals’ well-being and limit their participation across various social institutions in ways that jeopardize their (re)incorporation trajectories, both in the United States and in their countries of birth.

Author

• Carolina Valdivia, University of California, Irvine