Over the last century, U.S. officials have removed more people than they’ve allowed to remain in the country on a permanent basis. This fact, simple but shocking — at least for anyone who thinks of the U.S. as a nation of immigrants — came from Adam Goodman, author of “The Deportation Machine: America’s Long History of Expelling Immigrants,” during a Los Angeles Times Festival of Books panel Saturday on immigrants and American society. Who’s an American, and who’s not?” Goodman asked, noting that immigration enforcement practices have always disproportionately targeted ethnic Mexicans — 9 out of every 10 deportees throughout U.S. history. “In the acquisition of the white settler America, we either exploit the people or we remove them altogether,” said Cody. “Borderland Apocrypha,” Cody’s collection of poems reflecting on his biracial identity as an Irish-Mexican American, was a finalist for the 2020 Times Book Prize in poetry.

Source: Los Angeles Times April 18, 2021 13:02 UTC