Deportation Engraving-Latin Post
(Photo: commons.wikimedia)

In recent research, it is predicted that there will be a rise in the deportation of Latino U.S. citizens. More so, in 2007, the same study presented that 41 percent worried about being deported that year.

Meanwhile, in 2018, 48 percent were reported to have the same apprehension. This is equivalent to roughly 13.6 million Latino U.S. citizens who are concerned about deportation. 

Primarily, the Pew Research Center conducts regular surveys on Latino adults who are citizens and non-citizens of the U.S.

The surveys were conducted six times from 2007 to 2018 from which they asked various participants a common question of how much they are worried that they, a relative, or a friend is likely to be deported?"

Family Members for Family Deportation

Deportation affects U.S. citizens and their families and loved ones who are eligible for deportation. An assessment from the Center of the Study of Immigrant Integration of the University of Southern California reveals that to a certain extent.

Nearly nine million U.S. citizens, mostly comprised of children, have at least one undocumented family member. Meanwhile, four out of five of these citizens are Latinos.

However, this number captures just a fraction of U.S. citizens who have a deportable family member or loved one. Millions more consist of household members who have provisional statuses such as a green card.

Roughly 20.5 million U.S. citizens, or one in every 13 citizens, have a deportable family member. Nearly 60 percent of these citizens happen to be Latinos.

U.S. citizens are not insusceptible. Consequently, when these citizens are afraid of the safety of their loved ones, they are less likely to attend school, receive routine health care, or call the authorities during an emergency.

Mistakenly Deportable

The immigration law does not usually mention race. Nevertheless, the manner it is enforced, according to the research, "has racially unequal consequences."

An uneven share of Latino U.S. citizens has deportable family members. Latin American non-citizens are representing over 90 percent of all deportations, although they account for roughly 57 percent of all non-citizens.

When regulations predominantly impact one racial group, an official of the federal, as well as the everyday people, can mistakenly identify U.S. citizens as deportable. For instance, the federal government had around "200,000 US citizens of Mexican descent during the Great Depression" deported under the supposition. They were undocumented.

Such a mistaken identification is happening today, too. From 2007 to 2015, over 1500 US citizens, a lot of them, Latino, were illegitimately detained because they were suspected deportable.

Then, a 2018 study presented that, White Americans, most suspected Mexican and Salvadoran immigrants of being undocumented-and least doubted Canadians and Italians.

Moreover, reports from the media continue depicting cases of the Latino US citizens illegitimately detained for suspected violations for immigration.

Mainly, U.S. citizens should not be deportable by the law. However, Latinos still feel apprehensive about being mistaken as deportable, given the racially unjust enforcement of immigration policies and regulations. 

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