Nancy Hiemstra - Detain and Deport: The Chaotic U.S. Immigration Enforcement Regime

Detain and Deport

GEOGRAPHIES OF JUSTICE AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION

SERIES EDITORS

Mathew Coleman, Ohio State University

Sapana Doshi, University of Arizona

FOUNDING EDITOR

Nik Heynen, University of Georgia

ADVISORY BOARD

Deborah Cowen, University of Toronto

Zeynep Gambetti, Boazii University

Geoff Mann, Simon Fraser University

James McCarthy, Clark University

Beverley Mullings, Queens University

Harvey Neo, National University of Singapore

Geraldine Pratt, University of British Columbia

Ananya Roy, University of California, Los Angeles

Michael Watts, University of California, Berkeley

Ruth Wilson Gilmore, CUNY Graduate Center

Jamie Winders, Syracuse University

Melissa W. Wright, Pennsylvania State University

Brenda S. A. Yeoh, National University of Singapore

THE CHAOTIC U.S. IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT REGIME

NANCY HIEMSTRA

are reprinted by permission of the publishers from You dont even know where you are: Chaotic geographies of U.S. migrant detention and deportation, in Carceral spaces: Mobility and agency in imprisonment and migrant detention, ed. Dominique Moran, Nick Gill, and Deirdre Conlon (Farnham: Ashgate), 5775. Copyright 2013.

2019 by the University of Georgia Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Hiemstra, Nancy, author.

Title: Detain and deport : the chaotic U.S. immigration enforcement regime / Nancy Hiemstra.

Description: Athens : The University of Georgia Press, 2019. | Series: Geographies of justice and social transformation | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018034206| ISBN 9780820354651 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780820354637 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: United StatesEmigration and immigrationGovernment policy. | Illegal aliensGovernment policyUnited States. | Detention of personsGovernment policyUnited States. | DeportationGovernment policyUnited States.

Classification: LCC JV6483. H54 2019 | DDC 325.73dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018034206

For my parents, Janet Wemer Hiemstra and Roger Hiemstra

CHAPTER 1 A Transnational Ethnography of U.S.
Detention and Deportation

This book has been a long time in the making, and there are many acknowledgments to be made.

In Ecuador, Cuencas Casa del Migrante welcomed me as a volunteer and incorporated me into its daily activities for nine months. Special thanks to Carmen Alvarado, who provided key support in the study design and conduct. The family members who trusted me to try to help them get information made this project possible. I am deeply grateful to the deportees who agreed to an interview, as well as the government and nongovernment interviewees who took time out of their busy schedules to speak with me.

The development of this project from dissertation to book followed my own journey from student to faculty member, and many people have offered guidance and assistance in many forms along the way. Alison Mountz has been there at many critical stages, as my dissertation adviser and mentor, and now colleague, from visiting me in Ecuador during fieldwork to offering incisive feedback at multiple points. Emily Billo buoyed me during fieldwork, helped work through methodological challenges, and always has an encouraging word. Many thanks to Deirdre Conlon, for being a sounding board, inspiration, and cheerleader. I also thank her for allowing me to draw on our joint project on the internal economies of detention for and scholarly inspiration for this book have come from Shaul Cohen, Susan Coutin, Alexandra Dlano Alonso, Brian Duff, Nick Gill, Tanya Golash-Boza, Susan Hardwick, Jen Hyndman, Emily Kaufman, Maria Lane, Jenna Loyd, Cetta Mainwaring, Dominique Moran, Lise Nelson, Marie Price, and Jill Williams.

At the University of Georgia Press, I am indebted to Press editor Mick Gusinde-Duffy, Jon Davies, and other talented editorial, design, and production staff. Special thanks to series editor Mat Coleman for his vision of what my work offers, careful readings of the manuscript, and enthusiasm.

This project was made possible by generous financial and material support. The research in Ecuador was funded by a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Fellowship, and the Syracuse University Department of Geography, Graduate School, the Maxwell School John L. Palmer Fund and Roscoe Martin Research Grant, and the Program on Latin America and the Caribbean. Valuable writing time for the book was provided by Stony Brook Universitys Arts, Humanities and Lettered Social Sciences Faculty Research Fellowship, as well as through a visiting scholar position at the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility at the New School for Social Research.

Finally, my family has sustained and kept me sane throughout this project. Of special mention: the book truly would not have been possible without my parents, Janet Wemer Hiemstra and Roger Hiemstra. They provided unflagging support, including care for my children, manuscript assembly assistance, and unwavering belief in me. My children Kian and Saskia keep me anchored; when I take a dive into pessimism, their joy, smiles, and curiosity remind me there is good in the world worth working for. My partner and best friend, Sean Bowditch, has been there through it allfieldwork, dissertation, junior faculty insanity, and getting this book finally finishedalways radiating confidence that I would get it done. This book is really a collective effort; thanks to so many, and apologies to those I inadvertently failed to mention.