New Study Details Harsh Consequences of Trump’s Deportation Policies on US Residents, Families, and Communities

New York, NY, Nov. 13, 2018 – The Kino Border Initiative (KBI), the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS), and the Office of Justice and Ecology (OJE) of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States today released, “Communities in Crisis: Interior Removals and Their Human Consequences,” a new report examining the characteristics of deportees and the effects of deportation.

This report details findings from the CRISIS Study (Catholic Removal Impact Survey in Society), which interviewed deportees at KBI’s migrant shelter in Nogales, Sonora, and those affected by deportation in Catholic parishes in Florida, Michigan, and Minnesota. The interviews explored: (1) the impact of removals on deportees, their families, and other community members; (2) the deportation process; and (3) the relationship between deportees and their families. The report also includes policy recommendations to mitigate the ill effects of the administration’s policies and promote the integrity of families and communities, including: using detention as a “last resort;” reducing funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); and limiting collaboration between police and ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Researchers found that deportees had built their lives, made their homes, and established long and deep ties in the United States. On average, survey respondents had lived in the country for 19.9 years, with more than half having first entered as minors. Ninety-six percent had been employed in the United States, and, on average, had worked nearly 10 years in the same job. In addition, 42 percent of survey respondents had US citizen spouses or partners, and 78 percent had US citizen children. Given these circumstances, it comes as little surprise that 73.5 percent of deportees said they planned to return to the United States.

“The report offers an intimate, often raw look at the human consequences of indiscriminate enforcement and the administration’s deportation policies,” said Donald Kerwin, CMS’s executive director. “And it offers recommendations on how to protect the integrity of immigrants, US families, and communities.”

To download the report, visit http://cmsny.org/publications/communities-in-crisis.

The Center for Migration Studies (CMS) is a New York-based educational institute devoted to the study of international migration, to the promotion of understanding between immigrants and receiving communities, and to public policies that safeguard the dignity and rights of migrants, refugees and newcomers. For more information, please visit www.cmsny.org.

The Kino Border Initiative (KBI) is a binational organization located in Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. KBI promotes US/Mexico border and immigration policies that affirm the dignity of the human person and helps make humane, just, workable migration between the United States and Mexico a reality. For more information, visit www.kinoborderinitiative.org.

The Office of Justice and Ecology (OJE) helps the president and provincials of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States reflect the Jesuits’ work for reconciliation on issues such as immigration and economic, criminal, juvenile and environmental justice. For more information, visit www.jesuits.org.