The particular harms of the 'good immigrant' versus 'bad immigrant' construction on black immigrants in the United States

• Author: Sophia Denuyl
• Position: Third year J.D. Candidate at Georgetown University Law Center and holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Barnard College
• Pages: 755-774

NOTES

THE PARTICULAR HARMS OF THE “GOOD

IMMIGRANT” VERSUS “BAD IMMIGRANT”

CONSTRUCTION ON BLACK IMMIGRANTS IN

THE UNITED STATES

SOPHIA DENUYL*

ABSTRACT

In the fall of 2021, video and images surfaced of Border Patrol agents on

horseback corralling and whipping Haitian migrants with their reins along

the U.S.-Mexico border in Del Rio, Texas. These migrants were being

rounded up for deportation under Title 42, a Trump-era provision invoked

during the COVID-19 pandemic under the guise of public health. These

events triggered outrage, including from the President of the National

Association for the Advancement of Colored People, who pointed out that the

images are disturbingly reminiscent of some of the darkest moments in our

nation’s history.

This abuse was yet another wake-up call to the disproportionate obstacles

and cruelty inflicted on Black immigrants by the U.S. government. This Note will

examine the ways in which the U.S. immigration system has long led to disparate

outcomes for Black immigrants, whether under an administration that openly

espouses xenophobia and hate, or one which purports to be building a fair and

humane immigration system. It will argue that the voices and stories of Black

immigrants have long been ignored by the media, politicians, and even main-

stream immigration advocates, and that this decentering can be traced, at least

in part, to the harmful “good immigrant” versus “bad immigrant” myth that has

come to overwhelm the national immigration debate.

* Sophia DenUyl is a third year J.D. Candidate at Georgetown University Law Center and holds a

bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Barnard College.

755

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756

II. THE ERASURE OF BLACK IMMIGRANTS IN THE MEDIA AND FROM THE

NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758

A. President Biden’s First Few Months . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758

B. Patterns Repeating Themselves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760

III. FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE ERASURE OF BLACK IMMIGRANTS . . . 761

A. Identity as “Immigrant” Overshadowed by Identity as

“Black”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761

B. The “Good Immigrant” versus the “Bad Immigrant”. . . . 762

1. “Shithole Countries”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764

a. “Criminals”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765

b. “Moochers”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 768

c. “They All Have AIDS”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 771

2. “I Think Islam Hates Us”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772

IV. CONCLUSION ...................................... 774

I. INTRODUCTION

Between February 1 and March 30, 2021, U.S. Immigration and Customs

Enforcement (ICE) sent more than twenty-four flights, carrying between 1,300

and 1,500 people, back to Haiti.

1

In fact, in the first two months of their adminis-

tration, President Biden and Vice President Harris deported more Haitian

immigrants than the Trump administration did in all of fiscal year 2020.

2

The

American Civil Liberties Union described the situation in Haiti as “lethal.”

3

Advocates called these deportations “death flights” due to the dire conditions

and high risk of violence that these immigrants face upon return.

4

Many advo-

cates have noted the symbolic significance of the fact that the new administra-

tion spent the better part of Black History Month deporting Black immigrants.

5

1. Marleine Bastien & Alix Desulme, Biden Must Stop Deportations to Haiti. It’s Inhumane—And

Breaks His Promise to Us, MIA. HERALD (Mar. 30, 2021, 10:09 AM), https://perma.cc/8FLZ-M7WB.

2. Julian Borger, Haitian Deportation Soar as Biden Administration Deploys Trump-Era Health

Order, THE GUARDIAN (Mar. 25, 2021, 5:00 AM), https://perma.cc/K3YB-EPT5.

3. Press Release, Naureen Shah, Senior Advoc. & Pol’y Couns., Am. C.L. Union, ACLU Response

to DHS Memo on Enforcement and Removals (Feb. 18, 2021), https://perma.cc/32RJ-RMW7.

4. See, e.g., Tina Va

´squez, Q&A: The Biden Administration Spent Black History Month Deporting Black

Immigrants. Why Aren’t People in the Streets?, PRISM (Feb. 11, 2021), https://perma.cc/7KD3-MLCD.

5. Id.

756 GEORGETOWN IMMIGRATION LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 36:755