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The Deportation Machine: America's Long History of Expelling Immigrants
The unknown history of deportation and of the fear that shapes immigrants' lives
Constant headlines about deportations, detention camps, and border walls drive urgent debates about immigration and what it means to be an American in the twenty-first century. The Deportation Machine traces the long and troubling history of the US government's systematic efforts to terrorize and expel immigrants over the past 140 years. This provocative, eye-opening book provides needed historical perspective on one of the most pressing social and political issues of our time.
In a sweeping and engaging narrative, Adam Goodman examines how federal, state, and local officials have targeted various groups for expulsion, from Chinese and Europeans at the turn of the twentieth century to Central Americans and Muslims today. He reveals how authorities have singled out Mexicans, nine out of ten of all deportees, and removed most of them not by orders of immigration judges but through coercive administrative procedures and calculated fear campaigns. Goodman uncovers the machine's three primary mechanisms--formal deportations, voluntary departures, and self-deportations--and examines how public officials have used them to purge immigrants from the country and exert control over those who remain. Exposing the pervasive roots of anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States, The Deportation Machine introduces the politicians, bureaucrats, businesspeople, and ordinary citizens who have pushed for and profited from expulsion.
This revelatory book chronicles the devastating human costs of deportation and the innovative strategies people have adopted to fight against the machine and redefine belonging in ways that transcend citizenship.
Constant headlines about deportations, detention camps, and border walls drive urgent debates about immigration and what it means to be an American in the twenty-first century. The Deportation Machine traces the long and troubling history of the US government's systematic efforts to terrorize and expel immigrants over the past 140 years. This provocative, eye-opening book provides needed historical perspective on one of the most pressing social and political issues of our time.
In a sweeping and engaging narrative, Adam Goodman examines how federal, state, and local officials have targeted various groups for expulsion, from Chinese and Europeans at the turn of the twentieth century to Central Americans and Muslims today. He reveals how authorities have singled out Mexicans, nine out of ten of all deportees, and removed most of them not by orders of immigration judges but through coercive administrative procedures and calculated fear campaigns. Goodman uncovers the machine's three primary mechanisms--formal deportations, voluntary departures, and self-deportations--and examines how public officials have used them to purge immigrants from the country and exert control over those who remain. Exposing the pervasive roots of anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States, The Deportation Machine introduces the politicians, bureaucrats, businesspeople, and ordinary citizens who have pushed for and profited from expulsion.
This revelatory book chronicles the devastating human costs of deportation and the innovative strategies people have adopted to fight against the machine and redefine belonging in ways that transcend citizenship.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published May 26, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 31, 2021
When social or political problems arise that I feel I don’t really understand, I cope by reading about the topic. My confidence is tied to my understanding; I am out of sorts until I get some bearing. Of course, I almost always feel lost, so there’s always a lot of reading to do. My reading over 2018-2020, for example, was increasingly focused on making sense of the nightmarish phantasmagoria of the Trump era. Reading helped.
Recently, a new “border crisis” has been trumpeted by American news outlets, a crisis widely framed, from Fox to the NYT, in terms of amplified or default rightwing narratives of dangerous illegal aliens surging across an open border, etc., rather than in terms of it being a dire humanitarian crisis partly created by longstanding US policy and which the US is not only legally and morally bound to address, but which it absolutely has the power and resources to solve if it will (under the previous administration, it said it would not; now, it's saying it will -- we'll see). At any rate, I read this, together with Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America, to better understand the current situation in terms of the history of US immigration law, policy, and politics. Both books are very good: massively informative, conceptually nuanced, well-written. They have different focuses — this, the history of US mechanisms of deportation used to expel, control, and terrorize immigrants: formal deportations, voluntary departures, and self-deportation; Impossible Subjects, how the very categories of "legal" and "illegal alien," the delineation of immigrant groups, and the invention of illegal immigration are historical and changing constructions of positive US immigration law. Impossible Subjects also foregrounds the importance of both domestic and international socio-economic forces that combine with legal and administrative structures to influence immigration patterns.
These books cover, understandably so, a lot of the same material and share key themes, notably US immigration law's racialization of immigrants through the invention of racial categories within broader political movements and discourse. I found the books similar enough to be helpfully reinforcing but also varied and able to shed different light on the topic. Both are worthwhile for understanding the current morass of immigration law and politics and their immense human toll -- and, in understanding the nature and magnitude of the problems, to think about actual solutions.
Recently, a new “border crisis” has been trumpeted by American news outlets, a crisis widely framed, from Fox to the NYT, in terms of amplified or default rightwing narratives of dangerous illegal aliens surging across an open border, etc., rather than in terms of it being a dire humanitarian crisis partly created by longstanding US policy and which the US is not only legally and morally bound to address, but which it absolutely has the power and resources to solve if it will (under the previous administration, it said it would not; now, it's saying it will -- we'll see). At any rate, I read this, together with Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America, to better understand the current situation in terms of the history of US immigration law, policy, and politics. Both books are very good: massively informative, conceptually nuanced, well-written. They have different focuses — this, the history of US mechanisms of deportation used to expel, control, and terrorize immigrants: formal deportations, voluntary departures, and self-deportation; Impossible Subjects, how the very categories of "legal" and "illegal alien," the delineation of immigrant groups, and the invention of illegal immigration are historical and changing constructions of positive US immigration law. Impossible Subjects also foregrounds the importance of both domestic and international socio-economic forces that combine with legal and administrative structures to influence immigration patterns.
These books cover, understandably so, a lot of the same material and share key themes, notably US immigration law's racialization of immigrants through the invention of racial categories within broader political movements and discourse. I found the books similar enough to be helpfully reinforcing but also varied and able to shed different light on the topic. Both are worthwhile for understanding the current morass of immigration law and politics and their immense human toll -- and, in understanding the nature and magnitude of the problems, to think about actual solutions.
March 26, 2021
Read this in 2020 after hearing about the book in an author interview on a political podcast. It covers America's long-standing deportation machine that has been in operation since California's Chinese exclusion act. A legal arrangement in cooperation with informal measures with independent actors. This arrangement takes away legal rights of protections of people with various immigration statuses which is good for businesses to keep labor in-line, wages down, and feeds racist populism and the politicians who use it to get to or remain in office. Another example where power uses legal measures, informal arrangements to immiserate vulnerable people for power and profit and feed off xenophobia to help their bank account and careers. Been going on long before Trump as the book documents in detail.
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following reviews
READING PROGRESS
June 6, 2020 – Started Reading
June 7, 2020 – Finished Reading
February 26, 2021 – Shelved
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: american-history
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: cold-war
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: early-twentieth-century
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: early-twenty-first-century
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: east-asia
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: european-history
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: india-pakistan
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: late-capitalism
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: late-twentieth-century
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: latin-american-history
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: mid-twentieth-century
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: law
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: middle-east
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: nineteenth-century
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: pacific-islands
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: politics
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: sociology
1 like · Like ∙ flag
following reviews
READING PROGRESS
June 6, 2020 – Started Reading
June 7, 2020 – Finished Reading
February 26, 2021 – Shelved
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: american-history
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: cold-war
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: early-twentieth-century
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: early-twenty-first-century
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: east-asia
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: european-history
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: india-pakistan
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: late-capitalism
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: late-twentieth-century
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: latin-american-history
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: mid-twentieth-century
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: law
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: middle-east
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: nineteenth-century
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: pacific-islands
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: politics
February 26, 2021 – Shelved as: sociology
February 27, 2021
Read this in 2020 after hearing about the book in an author interview on a political podcast. It covers America's long-standing deportation machine that has been in operation since California's Chinese exclusion act. A legal arrangement in cooperation with informal measures with independent actors. This arrangement takes away legal rights of protections of people with various immigration statuses which is good for businesses to keep labor in-line, wages down, and feeds racist populism and the politicians who use it to get to or remain in office. Another example where power uses legal measures, informal arrangements to immiserate vulnerable people for power and profit and feed off xenophobia to help their bank account and careers. Been going on long before Trump as the book documents in detail.
January 24, 2021
Excellent overview of the history of "unwelcoming" immigrants to the U.S. In well-researched chapters, the author explains mythology of the United States as a land open to immigrants, noting that "the US has deported nearly 57 million people since 1882, more than any other country in the world. During the last century, federal officials have deported more people from US than they have allowed to remain on a permanent basis." The study stops with the election of Trump, only covering it in an epilogue, even though published in 2020 - but that probably would have been a study in itself. But quite instructive that some of the worst anti-immigration policies have been passed under Democratic presidents, Clinton and Obama. Time to pay attention!
February 26, 2021
A great look at how America has done mass deportations. These are the stories that show that the past 4 years of the Trump Administration are a continuation of the past 120 years of American policy. Absolutely a great book that covers new ground in a market over-saturated with this topic.
August 25, 2021
I was aware of some historical incidents of deportation but had no idea the magnitude of government involvement and how fear was used as a political tool to create institutionalized discrimination and hate that we still have issues with today.
December 17, 2021
Adam Goodman’s The Deportation Machine traces the long and troubling history of the American government's efforts to terrorize immigrants and to purge people from the country. Starting in the late nineteenth century, Goodman examines how local, state, and federal officials have targeted various groups for expulsion, from Chinese, Europeans and Mexicans at the turn of the twentieth century to Central Americans and Muslims today. He reveals how authorities have singled out Mexicans through coercive administrative procedures and strategically calculated fear campaigns. Goodman discusses the machine’s three main mechanisms-- formal deportations, “voluntary” departures, and self-deportations-- and examines how public officials have used them to expel immigrants from the country and exert control over those who remain.
March 9, 2021
This book was incredibly informative but terribly dry and boring. I feel like there was such a missed opportunity in doing less storytelling on such a very human issue. The personal examples used felt like an afterthought as opposed to bring the actual story of deportation. Policy policy... Oh yeah and a human.
January 23, 2021
Great history of deportation practices in the US. Id recommend this for the portion on "voluntary deportation," which I have never seen covered in as much depth.
September 17, 2020
A fantastic, deep exploration of U.S. deportation practices that evade immigration courts. Historian Adam Goodman unearths a wealth of new material and deploys much of the best scholarly literature on deportation to reveal how U.S. deportation operations have relied on pressure and fear to circumvent immigration courts. This is a bipartisan, century-plus phenomenon that is frequently overlooked by scholars as much as by journalists and policymakers. Goodman's excellent book is an urgent reminder that often the most substantial impacts happen out of sight.
Read
October 26, 2020Adam Goodman
ΦBK, Tufts University, 2003
Author
From the publisher: Constant headlines about deportations, detention camps, and border walls drive urgent debates about immigration and what it means to be an American in the twenty-first century. The Deportation Machine traces the long and troubling history of the US government's systematic efforts to terrorize and expel immigrants over the past 140 years. This provocative, eye-opening book provides needed historical perspective on one of the most pressing social and political issues of our time.
In a sweeping and engaging narrative, Adam Goodman examines how federal, state, and local officials have targeted various groups for expulsion, from Chinese and Europeans at the turn of the twentieth century to Central Americans and Muslims today. He reveals how authorities have singled out Mexicans, nine out of ten of all deportees, and removed most of them not by orders of immigration judges but through coercive administrative procedures and calculated fear campaigns. Goodman uncovers the machine's three primary mechanisms--formal deportations, voluntary departures, and self-deportations--and examines how public officials have used them to purge immigrants from the country and exert control over those who remain. Exposing the pervasive roots of anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States, The Deportation Machine introduces the politicians, bureaucrats, businesspeople, and ordinary citizens who have pushed for and profited from expulsion.
This revelatory book chronicles the devastating human costs of deportation and the innovative strategies people have adopted to fight against the machine and redefine belonging in ways that transcend citizenship.
ΦBK, Tufts University, 2003
Author
From the publisher: Constant headlines about deportations, detention camps, and border walls drive urgent debates about immigration and what it means to be an American in the twenty-first century. The Deportation Machine traces the long and troubling history of the US government's systematic efforts to terrorize and expel immigrants over the past 140 years. This provocative, eye-opening book provides needed historical perspective on one of the most pressing social and political issues of our time.
In a sweeping and engaging narrative, Adam Goodman examines how federal, state, and local officials have targeted various groups for expulsion, from Chinese and Europeans at the turn of the twentieth century to Central Americans and Muslims today. He reveals how authorities have singled out Mexicans, nine out of ten of all deportees, and removed most of them not by orders of immigration judges but through coercive administrative procedures and calculated fear campaigns. Goodman uncovers the machine's three primary mechanisms--formal deportations, voluntary departures, and self-deportations--and examines how public officials have used them to purge immigrants from the country and exert control over those who remain. Exposing the pervasive roots of anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States, The Deportation Machine introduces the politicians, bureaucrats, businesspeople, and ordinary citizens who have pushed for and profited from expulsion.
This revelatory book chronicles the devastating human costs of deportation and the innovative strategies people have adopted to fight against the machine and redefine belonging in ways that transcend citizenship.
July 29, 2020
Goodman's history of the Deportation Machine is mostly situated in the south border, and most deportation happens in voluntary basis. Every time the deportation machine is disputed, it comes back with more restrictions and more pain. It seems that deportation will get more efficient and better at putting fear in the world of the undocumented. The resistance to the machine will not catch up to the well oiled machine of the system that is always winning legal framework.
Fear of the others will always wins against the compassion that Americans showed to the arrivals of the European descents. Since Europeans stopped arriving in drove, it seems the US is already full and will only accept below the numbers of demand of immigration labor. Good luck winning refuge and legal status in system that accept less.
Very bleak future
Fear of the others will always wins against the compassion that Americans showed to the arrivals of the European descents. Since Europeans stopped arriving in drove, it seems the US is already full and will only accept below the numbers of demand of immigration labor. Good luck winning refuge and legal status in system that accept less.
Very bleak future
October 14, 2020
This is a well written and technical analysis of the history and current issues of deportation in the US. It does especially good job of addressing the "voluntary" deportation system that exists in the US and its impact on immigrants.
July 7, 2020
Wow! Such a well researched, eye opening book
August 27, 2020
5/5⭐️. This is such a well-done, well-researched history of immigration in the United States. Goodman pays particular attention to the historical deportation of Mexicans & Mexican Americans, flowing and connecting to the history of today (up to 2019), including the creation of ICE. Excellent history and I wish I had learned it sooner.
October 13, 2020
Very good history lesson.
January 27, 2023
I was assigned to read this book for a class I took surrounding immigration and the history of the United States. I'm not going to lie, I was not excited to read it. However, The Deportation Machine opened my eyes to so many different aspects of how immigrants were and continue to be perceived and treated in this country. Goodman, the author, is clearly very knowledgeable about the subject and his writing made me question why the United States calls itself a "nation of immigrants" if they always have and continue to treat those who want to live and work in their nation so poorly.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews