[gentle music]
- Armando Tillery: Deportation is a legal process
where immigrants are being detained and forcefully removed
from their homes and the country and sent to their home country.
It is a process that separates families,
children from their parents,
and traumatizes generations of immigrants.
- Josalin Parker: People are being separated
from their families,
and kids can have lasting mental health issues,
such as sleeping changes, anxiety, sadness,
anger, and withdrawal.
In addition, the loss of income from being deported
creates financial instability
for the family members left behind
as well as the person leaving the country.
Although the United States
has benefited from immigration economically,
historically, the United States has made it difficult
for immigrants to enter the country
and difficult for immigrants already in the country to stay.
- Zander Phiffer: Until the 1920s, the border
between Mexico and the United States was open.
In 1929, the U.S. government required Mexicans
to obtain visas in order to enter the country
and installed a patrol along the border.
With these new requirements,
the United States deported 82,000 Mexicans
throughout the Great Depression.
However, in 1942, Congress enacted the Braceros Program,
which brought immigrant labor to the United States
to work agriculture jobs that were worked by people
who were serving the military during World War II.
Immigrants came from Mexico
expecting to learn valuable skills
and higher pay than they were earning in Mexico.
However, immigrants working those jobs
were exposed to low pay, discrimination,
and dangerous chemicals.
When the Braceros Program ended in 1964,
people risked staying in the country illegally
in order to have more opportunities
and a better life for themselves and their families.
In addition, the low pay from the work program
made it impossible for the people
to afford to go back to Mexico and return to the United States.
The Midwest became one of the largest populations
for immigrants throughout the '70s and '80s
because of the promise of the industrial
and agricultural opportunities.
Chicago trailed only LA as the urban area
with the largest concentration of undocumented immigrants
throughout the period.
Mexican immigration to Wisconsin
continued to grow after the 1970s as factories,
tanneries, foundries, canners, and meatpackers
began to more heavily recruit Mexican natives--
throughout both legal and extralegal means--
to fill an expanding number of grueling, low-paying positions.
The impacts of deportation go beyond economic loss
and instability.
People who illegally stayed in the United States
after the Braceros Program
took advantage of the opportunities
the United States provides, such as education, protection,
security, and stable homes to raise their families.
Being forcibly removed from that stability and loved ones
takes a huge toll on those who are deported.
- Hugo Sanchez: It's really hard because usually,
most of us lose our job and families.
Some of them don't come back
or don't have the chance to get back here.
And I got deported back in, I think it was 2008, 2009.
Everything started when I went to the airport
to pick up my kids coming from Mexico.
I got pulled over by a cop.
After that, they just pulled me out of the car,
take me to jail.
Spent two months in jail for that.
Get deported back to Mexico and spent 10 years
until my legal situation can be fixed
and get back to the United States.
It was hard to get communication with my kids.
One of the little ones got sick twice
to the point that she almost died
just for the allergies that she has.
So trust me, it's not something easy for me
just to know by phone that my kid almost died
and my kid is in the hospital.
I wasn't doing anything bad.
For the people that is not doing good at all, sell drugs,
do drugs, do some other bad stuff like get drunk and drive
or kill somebody, that people just,
I feel like it's not good to have that kind of people here.
But on the other side,
for the people that actually work,
just spend time with the family
and do the best they can every day to bring money home,
I don't think they deserve that.
- The experience of deportation is undeniably difficult.
Deportation disrupts not only the lives of those removed,
but also the lives of their friends and family
who stayed in the U.S.
Many people in similar situations
experience them getting taken away from their families,
financial problems,
and the hardship of being in a foreign country.
The lack of physical presence makes it incredibly difficult
to maintain meaningful relationships
and support one another,
especially during times of tribulation.
[gentle music]