Immigrant Detention/Deportation and Family Separations

The objective of this special number is to place family separation within a historical and cultural framework that encourages a re-centering of recent family detention to include the effects of adult immigrant detention and deportation.

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Genealogy invites essays on the topic of ‘Immigrant Detention/Deportation and Family Separation’.

With attention on the US–Mexico border, the media has suddenly focused on the topic of family separations, but these discussions are narrow and limited to recent child detention. In the past, it was common to see families that were temporarily separated when migrant men traveled for seasonal work. The militarization of the US–Mexico border cut the migrant flow by making it more difficult to come and go between countries. Migrants created new strategies to maintain families together that involved bringing children to the United States. Crossing the border implies a direct threat of being separated, but the risk remains after entering the United States. The undocumented families that reach their destination live with the fear of the detention and deportation of any undocumented member of the unit. Children with US citizenship also face the peril of losing their undocumented parents. In general, immigrant detention and deportation cause genealogical disruptions.

Papers are invited from any relevant disciplinary backgrounds, addressing but not limited to the topics listed below:

• The politics of family detention
• Reunifying separated families
• Media representations of family separation
• Immigrant activism to stop family detention
• Genealogies of deported Mexicans and Mexican-Americans during the Great Depression
• Disrupted genealogies from migrant deaths at the border
• Transnationalism and family separation
• Narratives of migrant detention and deportation

Dr. Christina L. Sisk
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Genealogy is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.