Self-Deportation is Modern Magic

-- By LizzieGomez - 15 Feb 2012

Introduction

Illegal immigration in America is a “legal problem” in the fullest sense conveyed by Robinson in Lawyerland. The solution, if even one exists, doesn’t lie only within the parameters of the law but involves forces outside the law--economics, race relations, politics.

Recently, Mitt Romney presented his solution to America’s immigration reform at a GOP debate in Tampa. “The answer,” as he called it, was self-deportation. In short, it is the idea that undocumented immigrants will voluntarily choose to leave this country if life here is made unbearable enough. The term is mocked because it combines the notion of getting expelled and choosing to leave one’s country, but it is no joke. The theory is synonymous with a strategic plan developed by anti-immigrant groups called “attrition by force,” which is embodied in laws denying work, education, transportation, housing services to those who cannot prove their legal immigration status.

While never soft on immigration, Romney’s recent hardline stance on immigration dropped any pretense of a moderate view. My view on this is simple: Taking Frank’s concept outside the courtroom, I find self-deportation an incantation of primitive magic by attempting to classify and reconstruct a legal process that instills anxiety and fear into something that is controllable and familiar. Self-deportation is disguised as a passive resistance of immigrants to provide mental ease and certainty over a subject area that reveals our impotence as a society.

What’s the Magic?

Modern legal magic isn't just found in trials. Frank writes that magic appears when primitive man tries to confront “specific practical problems when he is in peril or in need.” (45). In this case, politicians, statisticians, and economists have all tried to resolve without success America’s illegal immigration problem. The issue is a divisive one; citizens either want the government to focus on halting the flow of illegal immigrants altogether or on forming a comprehensive approach to those already here.

With no clear strategy of how to move forward, immigration reform (or lack thereof) engenders a cloud of uncertainty over the legal rights owed to undocumented workers and families. This is where magic appears, making what is subjective appear objective to instill a sense of reliability and “substitute unreal achievements for real.” Magic functions like science to do this; it uses a technological process of manipulation to turn what “might conceivably be true” to what “is true.” (45). Indeed, it’s a well-thought out approach according to the leading architects of self-deportation like the Federation for American Immigration Reform, who said: Illegal immigrants “are very rational people. They come here to get access to jobs and a lot of services. If you remove those incentives, they will respond rationally and leave.”

Self-Deportation Exposed

On its face, self-deportation sounds less aggressive than conducting mass roundups and imprisoning undocumented workers. After all, immigrants would be choosing to pack up and leave the country. However, the means to this end is atrocious; at a practical level, it requires strict oversight of employers, random identity checks, and blocking access to medical care. By pushing for harsher regulation and hostility from state governments, this plan undercuts basic human rights, and heightens discriminatory abuses, devastates local economies.

And unsurprisingly, self-deportation is not effective. Reports show that rather than push undocumented workers out of the regulated labor market, self-deportation will only move them into the “shadow economy,” a sector akin to an underground marketplace where “labor law are frequently unenforced or ignored.” For various reasons--to escape a worse fate in their home country, to not break up a family, to hold onto the hope of becoming a citizen--undocumented workers almost always recur to the shadow economy, even if it turns them into Bartleby-like ghosts.

A Personal Reflection

I'm lucky to be a naturalized U.S. citizen. I don't mean just thankful. I mean that the naturalization process, among other variables, depends on pure luck. It took an abnormally short amount of time for my family to get our green cards because we came during an amnesty period. The tranquility citizenship has afforded us is at moments a bittersweet reality for me, namely because the horror stories about immigration that I know come from my family, neighbors, and friends.

To even get a temporary residency means a world of difference. I went to a small magnet high school of predominately black and Latinos. From my class, 2 did not complete college, both due to immigration problems. One of them is my best friend. He was a stellar student; he had over a 4.0 GPA and national merit scholar. Yet his family never disclosed his illegal status until he applied for college. The truth was devastating because he had no control over the situation. I’ll leave out some of the details, but in the end he couldn’t secure federal loans to finish his degree at UC Berkeley. He now works as a cashier at a bookstore. It's a dead end job relative to what he and I know he is capable of. He also can’t leave the job or the city because his immigration case is still ongoing. The topic is pretty much taboo when we get together. After all, what do you say to someone whose life is in limbo?

Moving forward

In exposing modern legal magic in court trials, Frank was not concerned with finding a remedy. “You cannot control such courts unless you can also control their fact-finding. But that you usually can’t do.” (61). The point is for us to be aware of how the legal system is imbued with magical thinking.

I’m not sure, however, that we should idly sit back in this case. Political debates over immigration reform will be filled with magical words to ease our fears of change and chance of some “alien nation.” Minority leaders like Antonio Villaraigosa are right to call out Romney’s divisive self-deportation scheme, and I hope more get on board. (970 words)