The first type of deportation law is Extended Border Control (Kanstroom, Deportation Nation, Pg 5). Extended Border Control is a form of deportation that takes effect after an alien who has entered the country turn out to have committed “surreptitious entry, [fraud], or misrepresentation” (Kanstroom, Deportation Nation, Pg 5) during their initial entry or has violated their initial reason why they were allowed into the country in the first place. For example, this could be a student coming into the country to go to school, and then not attending school.
One event that falls under Extended Border Control are the Palmer Raids, an event that removed “foreign radicals” (Kanstroom, Deportation Nation, Pg 1), defined as people without legal residence nor citizenship. As these people were never citizens of the country, this event falls into Extended Border Control because the aliens had committed “surreptitious entry” (Kanstroom, Deportation Nation, Pg 5) into the country, and therefore they did not have any rights to a legal hearing, nor counsel.
A second event that falls under Extended Border Control is the Acadian Deportation. “[People] from France, Brittany, and Normandy,” although they did not agree with British rule as they promoted self-governance, “[founded] a colony called Acadia”(Kanstroom, Deportation Nation, Pg 43) (“The Acadian Deportation, Lesson 2). As the Acadian’s were not citizens of Great Britain, falling under Extended Border Control, they were not given any legal rights and were deported in 1755. A colony founded by and formed of immigrants and their offspring, Acadia flourished for over 100 years before the Acadian Deportation occurred, ultimately causing the demise of the entire Acadian colony.
The second type of deportation law is Post-Entry Social Control (Kanstroom, Deportation Nation, Pg 5). Post-Entry Social Control incorporates aspects of Extended Border Control, but is incredibly stricter. Post-Entry Social Control allows the country to determine if an alien is to be deported due to their behavior after entry, not issues due to the visa or immigration process, without a time limit as to how long they will be scrutinized for. Therefore, an immigrant never truly becomes a citizen of their new country and is seemingly just an “Eternal Guest” (Kanstroom, Deportation Nation, Pg 6) to the country who merely see’s them as a transient and not as an inhabitant. If a law is changed or created after a person immigrates into the country, and the person broke said law during their immigration process, said person can be deported for those crimes although they were not even crimes when they were committed.
The Alien Enemies Act and the Alien Friends Law of 1798 are great examples of Post-Entry Social Control. “All native citizens [of] the hostile nation [shall] be liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as illegal aliens” (Kanstroom, Deportation Nation, Pg 55). Therefore, any person – citizen or not – who has immigrated from another country, in which the US is at conflict with, is liable under the Alien Enemies Act to be detained and deported. This act is still in affect in today’s immigration and deportation policies.
The Naturalization Acts of 1790,1795, and 1798 are also due largely in part to Post-Entry Social Control. With the Naturalization Act of 1790, immigrants were to reside in the country for two years (Kanstroom, Deportation Nation, Pg 33) before they were to be granted citizenship. This increased to five years with the Naturalization Act of 1795, later becoming a fourteen year requirement with the Naturalization Act of 1798 (Kanstroom, Deportation Nation, Pg 54). The length of the waiting period continuously increased due in part to subdue the political and social voice, and impact, of immigrants, in fears of a response to the French Revolution (Kanstroom, Deportation Nation, Pg 54).
The Red Scare is another example of Post-Entry Social Control. In the mid 1900’s, as the Cold War continued between the United States and the Soviet Union, a widespread fear of communism erupted in America. As political views are behavioral, the Red Scare fell into Post-Entry Social Control. Leftist views went directly against the United States government, therefore becoming grounds for deportation of any immigrant who had, or were assumed of having, this political view, (Kanstroom, Deportation Nation, Pg 3) as it threatened the safety of the American people and went directly against the purpose we were fighting for in the Cold War. An offshoot of speaking your personal belief, such as in the instance of speaking your leftist views during the Red Scare, comes writing or printing your personal beliefs. The Sedition Act of 1918 allowed the United States to deport any immigrants who negatively wrote or printed their beliefs against the United States. As this is a behavioral change that occurred after the person had come into the country, this falls into Post-Entry Social Control.
In understanding deportation laws, as well as their history and reasoning, through the view of Extended Border Control and Post-Entry Social Control, one is capable of understanding the lives of those directly affected by the laws, if they are not directly affected themselves. This is a necessary aspect in order to make a well-informed vote during your local and national elections, as one is able to understand the effect certain laws may or may not have on the affected parties. The absolute power enacted by the American government to ensure the safety of its people through the lens of both Extended Border Control as well as Post-Entry Social Control establishes the reasoning for enactment as well as justification as to why the laws should be revised, removed, or kept.
Works Cited
Kanstroom, Daniel. Deportation Nation: Outsiders In American History. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007.