LA, the US and Trump Flashcards
(20 cards)
Latinx
A person of Latin-American origin or descent including all variations possibly excluded from the traditional term Latino/Latina, such as people of Afro-Latino descent, queer people, younger people who do not speak Spanish.
The ‘Latin’ Vote
Often used to refer to entire LA community as one - however, because of various geographic and historical factors, is not completely unified. Historically democrat leaning, now more and more Republican. Share of LA community in electorate also keeps growing
Tribalism
The more assimilated LA people perceive themselves as part of the ‘in-group’ the more they will reject new immigrants, as the ‘out-group’ could jeopardize their assimilation
Mega Prison
New model of mass incarceration in LA, where state replaces gang control with state control via extreme measures
i.e El Salvador, CECOT, facility built to hold 40,000 - symbolising shift from criminal to state led violence
Trumpism
political movement and ideology tied to Trump, built around nationalism, economic protectionalism, tough immigration policies, deep distrust of political elites.
Neocolonialism
Control by a state (usually a former colonial power) over another nominally independent state (usually, a former colony) through indirect means
Features of LA community in US
7% (1980) - 19% (2021)
62.5million = biggest minority group
push factors for migration related to US interventionism
2016, 2020 & 2024 LA vote for Trump
2016: 28%
2020: 32%
2024: 42%
Increasing eligibility of LA voters in US elections?
2016: 27.3 million
2020: 32.3 million
2024: 36.2 million
Short term ‘push’ factors of LA migration to US
Precarious and unstable economic situation
Demographic shifts
Violence: Civil and political-military conflict
Corruption
Natural hazards
Short-term ‘pull’ factors of LA migration to the US
demographic shifts
economic opportunities & labour demands
‘welcoming’ policies and social welfare policies
family relations and immigrant networks
American Dream discourse
Long-term factors of LA migration to the US
Long-term factors
Imperialism
The border
Economic system based on cheap labour
What is the Alien Enemies Act?
1798 law allowing the president to deport ‘non-citizens’ deemed a threat to the US - focus on gangs as ‘enemies of the state’
History of ‘Illegal Migration’: Colonial migration policies
forced resettlement, restriction against impoverished people, restrictions on further colonisation
History of ‘Illegal Migration’: US Independence + colonial bases
1790 first naturalisation act
1840s-50s colonial anti-poor laws against irish immigrants
mid 19th - restrictions against mexicans
late 19th - expansion of ‘prohibited’ immigrant category
1882 chinese exclusion act
History of ‘Illegal Migration’: 1924-43 Quotas and repatriation
1924: start of policing the border, most restrictive regime
quota system to strongly reduce immigration (unless from Northern and Western Europe)
Great Depression 1930s: “American jobs for real Americans” (H. Hoover)
“Mexican repatriation campaigns” & large-scale self-deportation (60%)
History of Illegal migration: 1942-1964 post WW2 Bracero Programme & operation ‘wetback’
Bracero programme = formalisation of mexican guestworker programme during WW2 through bilateral government agreement
Operation wetback 1954 = mass deportation under Eisenhower
History of ‘illegal’ migration: 1960s ‘post-racial’
Abandoning of openly racist immigration system: origins of the United States as a “nation of immigrants” myth, backed by new legal rationale
1963, J.F. Kennedy ‘pro-immigration’ policies: “Americans are all immigrants”
1965: end of quota system
1960s onward: boom Latin American migration to the US (Mexico, also Cuba)
History of ‘illegal’ migration: Neoliberal policies (1980s-1990s) PTD
acceleration of inflows in the 1980s & reemerging opposition to “illegal” immigration
more migrants from Central America and South America
1986, Immigration Reform and Control Act: legalization of Mexicans + start of militarization and control of the border
1994 (Clinton administration): Prevention Through Deterrence program – PTD
History of ‘illegal’ migration: post-911 from streamline to endgame
2001 creation of department of homeland security + ICE
2005 operation streamline, zero-tolerance approach to unauthorized border-crossing
2009-2017 Obama government ‘deporter-in-chief’, massive expansion of operation streamline and spending on immigration and deportation
Operation ‘endgame’: achieve a “100% removal rate” of US undocumented population - outsourcing of border control and deportation to Mexico
