AAPI Communities and Immigrant Self-Identity

• In Event: Systems of Exclusion and Belonging among Minorities

Abstract

In the American political landscape, the relationship between the immigration system and the criminal justice system has become increasingly intertwined. We see this in a number of ways, from collaborations between police forces and U.S. Customs and Immigrations Enforcement (ICE) to the usage of private prisons as immigration detention centers. While there has been previous scholarship on criminalization through the American immigration system, there has been limited scholarship conducted on Asian American populations criminalized through the immigration system.

In this paper, I examine two cities with increasing Asian populations: Columbus, Ohio and Los Angeles, California. I complete an analysis of deportations of Asian immigrants between 2010 and 2020 in both regions, comparing political and economic contexts in both cities. Additionally, I complete a series of interviews in both cities with participants who belong to Asian immigrant communities in order to understand their perceptions of where they belong in their city’s political system. Through these interviews, I examine perceptions of belonging within a system that can be punitive and carceral while broader political narratives typically do not center Asian immigrant experiences in these narratives.

Author

• Reiya Bhat