“Criminal Alien-Nations: Child Migrants to the United States Deported as ‘Criminal Alien’ Adults”
This ethnographic study examines the expulsions of long-term authorized and unauthorized residents who were brought to the United States as children and deported years later as adult “criminal aliens.” What happens to these “social citizens” of the United States after they become “alien citizens” of Mexico? In northern Mexico, deportees struggle to find work, build meaningful relationships, and avoid violence or extortion from organized crime. Yet they also seek inclusion in Mexico by reconfiguring care networks, reshaping masculinities, and devising new ways to work and live together. This project explores the historical justifications, mechanisms, and consequences of exclusions that have disenfranchised and expelled “social undesirables.” It documents how crime and immigration control have led to the precipitous rise in “criminal alien” deportations, contributing new knowledge about return migrations, structural vulnerability, human rights, citizenship, and masculinities in the current era.