مواطنون منفيون .. تاريخ النساء المكسيكيات الأمريكيات اللواتي تحملن الترحيل القسري

Exiled Citizens Kirkus Reviews nonfiction A poignant portrait of a bleak period in American immigration history, when nearly a million people of Mexican descent—most of them women and children who were U.S. citizens—were forced to move across the southern border. Between 1921 and 1944, approximately one million people of Mexican origin residing in the United States were deported to Mexico. What officials called “repatriation” was in fact forced exile: 60% of the expelled were American citizens, most of them working-class women and children, whose husbands and parents were Mexican immigrants. Drawing on oral histories, transnational archival sources, and private collections, Marla A. Ramirez highlights the lasting effects of forced mass deportation on three generations of Mexicans. Ramirez argues that exile served the interests of both sides of the border. In the United States, the government accused indigenous Mexicans of relying on social services to justify their deportation, blaming them for the economic hardships that followed World War I and the Great Depression. In contrast, officials in Mexico welcomed the returnees because of their potential to strengthen the workforce. As a result, all Mexicans in the United States—citizens and illegal immigrants alike—were viewed as financial burdens and cultural aliens. Ramirez specifically highlights the experiences of exiled women, portraying their courage and resilience in their quest to regain American citizenship and return home. However, exile often hampered their ability to pass on American citizenship to their children, robbed their families of hereditary wealth, and dramatically slowed their opportunities for social upward mobility. Today, their descendants continue to confront and resist the effects of these injustices, breaking the silence to ensure this history is not forgotten. Exiled Citizens provides a searing account of the expulsion process and its aftermath, highlighting the ongoing social, legal, and economic consequences of a deportation campaign that remains barely recognized in Mexico or the United States.