Broken Lives of Immigrants Deported from US to Mexico
Photo Credit: David Maung
“Broken Lives of Immigrants Deported from US to Mexico” is a short, seven-minute film documentary by Franz Strasser that captures the predicament of US deportees in Tijuana, Mexico. We discussed in class the difficulties deportees face as they return to their home countries, as they often either came to or were born in the United States at a young age. This documentary captures numerous first person accounts of deportees that both illustrate the aforementioned points and also illuminate specific experiences and challenges they face.
Rosario Vásquez, a US border patrol of the San Diego sector, describes an interesting practice in the process of deportation. He mentions how they often repatriate deportees at places different from where they originally crossed, a practice that prevents re-entry by effectively separating the deportee from smuggling organizations and their reentry points. While this practice separates the deportee from the organizations, it has various negative consequences, as repatriating immigrants at different places may increase their feelings of alienation as well as the difficulties they may have readjusting. This creates a situation that is compounded by the fact many have not returned or revisited their home country and have no family there to aid their resettlement. A deportee identified as Jose who came to the United States at the age of three describes the cultural and social challenges he experiences as he speaks broken Spanish and doesn’t know anyone there.
The documentary also mentions an area between the US-Mexico border and the outskirts of Tijuana named “El Bordo”, a dried riverbed where many deportees live in makeshift homes that range from tents to tunnel-like holes. The deportees are often blamed by local authorities for the rise in local crime. The secretary of public security of Tijuana, Alejandro Lares Valladares, captures this sentiment as he describes how the deportees engage in a “vicious cycle” of drug abuse and robbery. Activists such as Ernesto Hernandez Ruiz argue against this stigma, arguing that the local authorities either do not understand or do not want to understand the predicament of the deportees, who cross over with little to no belongings, remaining undocumented in their home country and becoming exposed to risks of gang violence, drug addiction. The CNN article “Stuck Between Two Countries” by Rosalina Nieves captures the conditions at El Border in greater detail, emphasizing how the police in Tijuana assume these deportees are criminals and drug abusers, harassing them for no reason.
Strasser’s documentary mentions that the Mexican government does help some of the deportees that are returning citizens, providing them with health insurance, an opportunity to contact relatives, a meal, and sometimes travel tickets to other parts of Mexico. However, those deported without relations or documentation struggle to restart their lives as they are met with stigmas and difficulties of readjusting, as illustrated by the documentary’s first person accounts and El Bordo. The only perspective that the documentary seems to be missing are deportees who successfully readjust after deportation. The lack of this perspective, intentional or unintentional, undoubtedly illuminates the rarity of that phenomenon, and serves to reaffirm the myriad challenges that deportees are faced with after the return to their country.
Article Links:
Documentary by Franz Strasser — http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26533046
Article by Rosalina Nieves — http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/21/us/u-s-mexico-border-purgatory/
Glenn, thank you for posting it. I had thought of showing you guys this documentary in class. The other day, I was listening to NPR and heard a somewhat happier story about those deported to Mexico. Apparently, there is a thriving calling center industry that recruits the deportees because they sounds like Americans. The story profiles some of these workers, including a young woman who was deported from Queens: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/520/no-place-like-home?act=2#play (it’s 11 minutes long)
Also, in class a few weeks back, I mentioned that citizens get deported, even though, of course, that’s not supposed to happen. Here are some mindboggling examples you can read about:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/04/29/130429fa_fact_finnegan
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/06/us/texas-colombia-teen/
All of these stories are so interesting and show the failure (which we are all too familiar with as CUNY students) in part of the bureaucracy which enforces these deportations. In past courses, I have read about Mexican cities like Mexicali that are constantly seeing comings and goings of population as people are repatriated here and leave in search of reentering the U.S. or in some cases establishing themselves elsewhere in Mexico. Many of the cities are at least partially controlled by drug cartels, and as the articles point out are not where the deportees are actually from. By doing this, the already difficult process is made more complex. Clearly, the entire issue of deportation needs to be reexamined, but this is an important part of it that should be taken into consideration.
I just can’t believe that this is the reality. Sofya, the New Yorker link you posted was really powerful.
I don’t know the major cause of deportation for these immigrants. One reason was given was gang violence, another drug possession, and another illegal possession of a weapon. For the latter two, I consider those offenses warrant only the jail time of the United States.
It is my opinion that gang violence does warrant deportation. Perhaps this is not ethical because deportation greatly increases the chances of a terrible life, but, while an argument can be made for the benefits offered to society and the community and the state for many immigrants, those associated with gang violence do not strike me as those types of people. It seems to me that illegal possession of a firearm could just be for self defense as many of these immigrants live in more dangerous areas. Drug possession does not influence anybody else so I think the methods of punishment should not be so extreme as to deport these members from our society.
Sofya, the thisamericanlife broadcast was very revealing, as well as the original documentary posted by Glenn. They show that your life becomes stagnant, if you are unfortunate enough not to have family – and even then life will be difficult. The deportees speak English as well as the broadcasters, sometimes better – they are good people, they have value, they want to be here. They are stuck in a place where the best job they will ever find is working in a call center. A good, middle-class job in Tijuana, for a person who could be starting or helping to manage/operate a new business in America – such as Mar Puance (she had a Masters degree in business but couldn’t find work because she lacked the papers).
Lastly, I do not think the high rates of drug trafficking have anything to do with the high rates of deportees in Mexico. Perhaps the argument could be made that in response to a demand for drugs, the cartels bring the drugs to Mexico. However, the demand for drugs is much higher in the United States, the ultimate goal of the cartels. If they could just grow and sell their drugs directly in the United States they would – but they cant. So they do it in Mexico. Then they bring the drugs to the border towns where the deportees happen to be situated. Of course they will sell drugs to the deportees, and of course the deportees want drugs. The presence of a market for drugs in districts like Tijuana does not however, indicate that the drug use of those deportees causes the multi-billion dollar illegal drug trafficking industry.
It seems inhumane to condemn these people to that kind of life. As Marielleray said, Clearly, the entire issue of deportation needs to be reexamined.
Emily – yes, the New Yorker story really sticks with you!
Ilizar – we don’t know exactly why the people in the documentary Glenn posted got deported. Remember, there are two broad categories of immigrants who get deported.
1) those without papers that authorize them to be in the US (this could be all of the people in the documentary, for all we know, having committed no crimes)
2) those without documents OR with green cards who commit a crime, serve their time in the US, and are then deported (this seems to be the case for those in the NPR story and was also the case for the people in the My Asian American video that I showed you).
The US deports about 400,000 a year. Only a small fraction of these people have committed what most people consider to be violent crimes.