Book Review: The New Deportations Delirium: Interdisciplinary Responses

• Date: 01 March 2018
• DOI: 10.1177/1057567717738313
• Author: Krystle Lynn Caraballo
• Published date: 01 March 2018
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

Chapter 3, “Protectors and Prosecutors: Humanitarianism and Security,” provides insight gained

through field research into the local scene. Macı´as-Rojas interviews judges, Mexican offic ials,

border agents, and migrants’ advocates and observes and d escribes hearings. She anal yzes the

conflicts regarding goals, definitions of criminals and victims, enforcement policies, humanitarian

aid, and migrant rights. The goal of punishing criminals and protecting victims represents a double

bind for those involved. Detention center bed capacity, increased deaths of migrants, and border

agent discretion and policy are addressed, as well as the unintended consequences. Clearly, moving

unauthorized entry from a civil matter to a criminal offense created a whole new host of problems.

Chapter 4, “Victims and Culprits: Deportation as a Pipeline to Prison,” examines the effects of the

CAP on the arrest and removal of border c rossers and the link to an expanded pr ison system.

Macı´as-Rojas interviews deportees, victims, local law enforcement officers, Border Patrol agents,

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, and a Non-Governmental Organizations

(NGO) representative. A removal hearing details the process of rapidly disposing of cases through

plea bargaining, which can lead to identification as a criminal and a subsequent prison sentence.

These policies break families apart and create high-priority target designation. Furthermore, the

public and the politicians do not understand the reality of the situation.

Chapter 5, “The Citizen and the Criminal: The Overreach of Immigration Enforcement,”

addresses the effects of border policies on residents of border communi ties. Border agents and

residents are interviewed providing insight into the changes and consequences of border policy.

Border residents are at risk for prosecution from a variety of offenses, such as smuggling. Abuse and

violence and false allegations against border citizens and activists by Border Patrol officials are also

discussed as are vigilante groups.

Chapter 6, “A New Enforcement Terrain: Criminal Justice Reforms and Border Security,”

focuses on new Federal policies and procedures and new types of criminalization. Macı´as-Rojas

summarizes, “The entire framework for thinking about migration control has shifted. Prosecutorial

approaches to managing migration have merged migration control with domestic policing to target

people with longer settlement histories, including U.S. citizens” (p. 169).

In conclusion, From Deportation to Pri son provides an ethnographic mode l of immigration

research embedded within national and local laws and policies. Macı´as-Rojas has written a well-

organized and clear analysis of the detrimental effects of immigration policy. Additionally, she

presents an exemplary model of ethnographic research.

This book would be useful in a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in sociology,

criminal justice, criminology, social work, political science, anthropology, and legal studies that

examine immigration policy, human rights, and ethnographic research. Given the current immigra-

tion circumstances, this book provides an assessment and evaluation that can inform policy and is a

significant contribution to immigration enforcement studies.

Kanstroom, D., & Lykes, M. B. (Eds.). (2015).

The New Deportations Delirium: Interdisciplinary Responses. New York, NY: NYU Press. 271 pp. $49,

ISBN 9781479868674.

Reviewed by: Krystle Lynn Caraballo, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA

DOI: 10.1177/1057567717738313

The mass use of deportation to “strengthen the borders” is lauded by politicians and conservative

leaning segments of the population, while condemned by immigrant activists and left-leaning social

Book Reviews 83