The History of Deportation in America -- pt. 1: Banishment By Another Name
Update: 2025-07-29
Description
We examine the roots of the American practice of "deportation" -- from colonial banishment of heretics, through the political upheaval over Alien & Sedition Acts, to the age of Chinese Exclusion -- which paved the way for the federal government to exercise virtually unlimited & absolute power over aliens, whom they placed outside the protection of the Constitution.
Suggested further reading: Kanstroom, "Deportation Nation: Outsiders in American History"
Image: East Asian women & children in a holding cell, Angel Island immigration station, California, ca. 1920
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